Fire and Rain: Twilight TwentyFive Round Six
by Missus T
Summary: In the wake of tragedy, two unlikely friends learn what it means to move on. Sometimes goodbye is only the beginning. EXB, AH. A Twilight25 Round Six Fic
1. Italy

**Fire and Rain  
><strong>**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
><strong>

Prompt: #17/Italy  
>Pen Name: Missus T<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella  
>Rating: M<br>**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:  
>round-six/prompts

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**Summary:** In the wake of tragedy two unlikely friends learn what it means to move on. Sometimes goodbye is only the beginning. EXB, AH

**A/N:** This is my first attempt at The Twilight Twenty-Five, so it shall be interesting. I'm going to put up chapters one through three today...then another chunk in a week or so. I'm also writing another multi-chapter fic right now so I'll be taking turns posting unless I get written far ahead.

Thanks to **SydneyGen **for being my kick-ass beta and support system.

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I was tucked in bed, warm and comfortable, when something brushed my nose, disturbing me.

I batted a hand in front of me to make it stop but met nothing but air.

It happened again, and I swung my arm out in a higher arc, but there still wasn't anything there. Then something lightly pinched my nose. I opened my eyes to see Garrett stretched out next to me, grinning and laughing quietly at me.

"Hey, sleepyhead."

"Hey, yourself." I closed my eyes again trying to pretend he wasn't there.

"Get up, cara. It's a beautiful day, and we've only got a week left before we go back to the real world."

"Mmmph."

He was right, but I didn't actually care. I was excited to go back to the states, but not excited to share him. It was fine with me if we stayed cocooned in our bed for the rest of the week so I could have him all to myself.

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I'd come to Italy to teach English for six months. When I saw the advertisement for the Darby School in the Arizona State Career Counseling office I knew I had to apply. It was exactly what I needed; a chance to travel while continuing to teach and make some decisions about my future.

I met Garrett the first day I arrived in Italy. He lived in the apartment above me and had come downstairs to introduce himself when he heard the sounds of the Black Eyed Peas drifting up from my window.

With boy next door good looks and charm to spare, he was like no one I'd ever met before. He was entirely genuine, not like the frat boys who turned on the charm to get in your pants. I'd met enough of those in college to know the type, and Garrett was not one of them. He was the real deal. He'd was fluent in Italian and had already been in Italy for six months when we met. I spoke vacation-Italian, knowing how to order off a menu and ask for a bathroom. He got quite a laugh out of that and began teaching me even more survival Italian that first night.

Garrett worked for a company that provided English speaking tour guides. He was finishing his Ph.D. in history and had come to Italy when he hit a brick wall working on his dissertation. Well, that was the story he told me originally and, although it was true, a few days later he admitted that he'd come to Italy to avoid his ex-girlfriend Irina. She'd left Garrett to marry someone that he had never liked to begin with. He explained that for as long as he could remember there had been a sort of turf rivalry between his friends in Forks and some boys from the nearby Indian reservation, and that Irina's marrying Jared had been too much for him. He said he'd needed some distance and a chance to gain some perspective. I certainly couldn't fault him for that.

Though I had grown up in Phoenix and Garrett was from the Pacific Northwest, we discovered that my father was actually the chief of police in his hometown. My parents were divorced, and I hadn't been there to visit since I was ten years old, but it was a small sign that he and I shared a connection of some sort. We were probably grasping at straws with that detail, but the little commonalities began to add up, solidifying my feeling that we were meant to be.

Garrett's father had passed away when he was six years old. He'd been Italian and had given Garrett and his sister Kate dual citizenship. Because of that, Garrett was able to stay in Italy indefinitely without a work permit.

As an American, I was only able to get a six month work visa. After a few months with him the thought of returning to the states tied me in knots. When I'd arrived in Italy I'd been unsure of the future and somehow, only a short time later, I couldn't see my future without him.

Garrett felt the same and surprised me with a proposal a month before I was scheduled to leave. We were married in a quiet ceremony; it was just the two of us and a court secretary as a witness. We didn't keep anything a secret from our families, but we didn't wait for them to join us either.

After jumping through some legal hoops with immigration and wading through a sea of red tape, I was able to stay in Italy as well. We'd lived paycheck to paycheck, more like college students than the adults we actually were, but after two idyllic years there, we had to go back. Garrett needed to defend his thesis, and I needed to work in the U.S. if I wanted to keep my teaching certificate. I couldn't bring myself to call it home yet, even if there seemed to be an entire life waiting for us in Washington state.

Garrett's family and friends were thrilled that we were moving to Forks and couldn't wait to meet me. Kate had come for a visit, but beyond that I didn't know any of them. Garrett had a faculty position lined up, and I had an interview at the high school the week after we got back.

Additionally, there was the promise of a relationship with my father after so many years apart. We'd grown closer while I was in Italy and I was looking forward to spending some time with him. My mother was excited that I'd be living near him since she had a new boyfriend and was doing a lot of traveling. My mom had always been a free spirit and sometimes I'd felt like I needed to take care of her. I was glad that it was finally someone else's turn.

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Something gently traced the shell of my ear, and I realized I'd fallen asleep again. I tried to bury my head under my pillow, but Garrett pulled it from my hands and threw it on the floor.

He kissed me gently behind my ear in that magic spot that made me melt. "If there's nothing more you want to do in Rome we could change our tickets and get a flight today," he teased.

I opened one eye and pretended to glare at him. "I don't want to get up. I don't want to get a flight today. I just want to stay in bed with you, is that too much to ask?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

He laughed, and I felt his arms come around me. His breath warmed my face, and I smiled into his kiss as I got my way.

We had a similar conversation several hours later, but that time I let him talk me into getting up and going out to dinner.

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	2. Hospital

**Fire and Rain Ch2  
><strong>**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
><strong>

Prompt: #14/Hospital  
>Pen Name: Missus T<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella  
>Rating: M<br>**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:  
>round-six/prompts

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** Um. So, you might need Kleenex for this chapter. That's about all I can say. Thanks for reading.

Thanks again to **SydneyGen** for helping translate my ramblings into coherent sentences!

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I was packing up a box of Garrett's history books when his co-worker Gianna rushed into our apartment. She was his partner; the Italian native he translated for when they gave tours to Americans. She and her boyfriend Demetri had become two of our closest friends.

"Where is your phone?" she asked in her heavy accent. Before I could tell her that it was on the counter charging, she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. "Never mind, come with me."

"You're scaring me. What's going on?" I pulled out of her grasp and picked up my phone, as well as my keys.

"We've been trying to call you! It's Garrett. There's been an accident. You must come with me. Right now, Isabella. Si prega di fretta! Please hurry!"

"What? Oh my god!" I couldn't breathe, and my stomach twisted in fear. I wasn't moving fast enough for her, so she grabbed my hand and started dragging me out of the apartment. "Where is he? How bad is it?"

"Non lo so. I don't know. Come, I'll take you to the ospedale."

She slipped between English and Italian, and I tried to keep up. I caught bits and pieces as she charged forward, frequently turning to speak over her shoulder. A city bus. A small Fiat. Garrett pushing someone out of the way. Insanguinato._Bloody._ I stopped listening then, my mind imagining horrible injuries and my husband covered in his own blood.

The hospital was usually about ten minutes from our apartment, but Gianna made it there in five.

I ran into the emergency room, panting. "Mi scusi," I said to the first nurse I saw. "I'm looking for my husband, mio marito, Garrett Denali."

I sounded like Gianna, speaking confusing Ita-glish, but she was actually much better at it. I looked to her for help because I couldn't think beyond finding Garrett. She began speaking in Italian, explaining that my husband was brought in after being hit by a car.

I gasped, finally understanding what happened and I had an overwhelming urge to throw up. Gianna started talking again, louder this time, and her hands were gesticulating wildly. My mind was so scattered I didn't comprehend a word she said, but the nurse looked scared and motioned us to follow her.

When we entered the room, I immediately realized that no one was standing near the bed. My eyes darted from Garrett's still body to a nurse who seemed to be cleaning up, then to the lab coated doctor as he pulled his gloves off and turned to face us.

"Signora Denali?"

I didn't have the time or the energy to explain why I hadn't changed my name. It was one of the first things we'd planned on taking care of when Garrett and I got into the states. I tried to focus on the doctor, but my eyes kept going to the gurney in the middle of the room.

He shook his head. "Mi spiace, I'm sorry..."

"Noooo!" It couldn't be right. This couldn't be happening.

No one was working on my husband. The doctor was sorry.

I moved quickly to the bed. The heart monitor was turned off and Garrett's eyes were closed. I reached for his hand—it was still warm, but lifeless. Teardrops landed on our joined hands, and my sobs broke through the ringing in my ears. My breath came in heaving gasps as I begged Garrett not to leave me.

I don't know how long I stood there trying to wish him back to life before I felt Gianna's hand on my shoulder. She pulled me into an embrace, but I wouldn't let go of Garrett. I couldn't focus my thoughts, but I knew I needed to be touching him. I didn't have much time left before I'd never touch him again.

"Mi spiace, Bella," she whispered, holding me and repeating apologies for my loss as I sobbed into her shirt.

At some point, I was given a chair, and I sat next to the bed with his cooling hand in mine. Time passed, but I couldn't have told you how much. I was vaguely aware of Gianna coming and going, occasionally sitting next to me crying quietly.

We were eventually asked to leave, but just the idea of it made me hyperventilate. Gianna and an English speaking nurse who'd found her way into our room at some point talked me through it and helped me calm down. When my breathing was normal again, Gianna told me that we needed to go that I didn't need to watch them take Garrett away. I knew she was right, but I didn't know if I could physically walk away from him for the last time.

With the nurse on one side and Gianna on the other, they led me to the car. I knew there was paperwork and other things that I needed to do, but they waved it off, telling me to keep going and not to worry.

Gianna took me back to the apartment, and I went straight to the couch. I called Garrett's step-father, Eleazar, and asked him to break the news to Garrett's mother, Carmen, and his sister, Kate. I couldn't say much without breaking down, so Gianna ended up giving him most of the details. Carmen called me back right away, asking if I needed her to come to Italy. It seemed silly, we were already packed to leave. The trip would just be a few days sooner, and I would be alone.

Finally I called my dad, but I had to hang up when I heard him start to cry. It was bizarre to me how moving across the ocean had brought us together, but I'd spoken to him more in the two years I'd been with Garrett than I had in the ten years since I'd last been to Forks. I didn't even try to call my mother, I had no interest in her somehow making what I was going through all about her.

Gianna had been trying to convince me to take a sleeping pill since we left the hospital. Breaking down on the phone with Charlie had taken everything out of me and I finally gave in. She assured me that she would take care of everything, but I didn't actually care at that point.

I covered myself up with Garrett's favorite blanket and curled into a ball on the couch where I cried myself to sleep. I woke up several times, thinking I heard Garrett coming home. Each time, however, I realized that it was just Gianna checking on me, and Garrett was gone. Eventually, I moved to the bedroom, though I couldn't bring myself to get into our bed. I hid in the corner, still huddled under Garrett's blanket.

The sound of voices in the living room caught my attention. I wasn't sure who it was but knew I should get up. There were things I needed to do, I just couldn't bring myself to move. The voices grew closer until three people stood in the doorway, sadly looking at me.

"Katie?"

I don't know why I called her that, but that's how it came out. She'd always been Kate to me; Garrett was the only one who called her Katie. She looked awful, like she hadn't slept in days. Her eyes and nose were red, and there wasn't a trace of make-up on her face.

"Oh, Bella." Her voice broke as she sobbed, making her way over to me in the corner to pull me into her arms. "I'm so sorry. It's going to be okay."

She held me and stroked my hair, and I simply let her. I wrapped my arms around her too, but I didn't have the energy for anything more. I looked behind her to see Gianna with a man that I knew I should recognize, but I couldn't place him.

"Did you bring a boyfriend?"

"That's not a boyfriend," Kate laughed, shaking her head as she settled against the wall with an arm around me. "That's Edward."

He and Gianna continued to smile sadly at us from the doorway, and I concentrated a little harder on him. He was striking, with a strong jaw and shaggy copper hair. His green eyes swam with emotion, and something clicked in my mind.

Edward. Garrett's best friend from high school. Our would-be best man if we'd had a traditional wedding and the closest thing to a brother Garrett had ever had.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain 000ooo000ooo


	3. Airport

**Fire and Rain Ch3  
><strong>**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
><strong>

Prompt: #1/Airport  
>Pen Name: Missus T<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella  
>Rating: M<br>**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:  
>round-six/prompts

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** I know this is sort of different so far from some of the lighter stories I've written so I'm really curious as to what you're all thinking... Thanks for reading and, as usual, thanks to **SydneyGen** for all she does.

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Kate and I sat quietly in the airport—side by side, sipping coffee. It had only been two days since she and Edward arrived in Italy, but we were flying out in a few hours.

Edward was talking to someone from the airline and I considered getting up and joining him. I mean, it was my husband's body we were trying to get back to the States, but I was still an emotional mess, and the details of our trip overwhelmed me.

I thanked God for the Xanax I'd been taking like candy. I still wasn't sure if it was Edward or Kate who brought them, but I didn't really care. I was going to take them until they were gone and probably get my own prescription eventually. I couldn't think beyond that.

I looked around the airport, taking in the few other passengers moving about and wondered about their stories. You could tell from looking at me that something bad had happened—I mean, my eyes were red, my hair was a mess, and I had bags bigger than my luggage under my eyes. Despite the fact it was early, somewhere around five in the morning, everyone I saw looked relatively happy, which made me feel worse—if there was such a thing as feeling worse once you were numb.

Edward took a seat in the chair on my other side, sighing heavily. "I think we're all set."

We had the option of leaving the evening before, but that flight included a ten hour lay-over at Charles DeGaul in Paris. By waiting to leave in the morning, at the very hint of dawn, we only had a short layover in Amsterdam. Then, after an exhausting fourteen hour flight, we would arrive at Seattle only a few minutes after the Paris flight from the night before. I don't know who had figured it out, but I owed them a thank you. I couldn't imagine sitting in an airport for ten hours under normal circumstances, but barely functioning and running on fumes it would have been my own personal brand of hell.

"Are you alright?"

I turned at Edward's voice and nodded. I must have made a noise or something when I was thinking about airport hell that had him concerned, but it hadn't been intentional.

He held my gaze for a second, as if trying to decide if I was telling him the truth. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself with a slight shake of the head. Running his hands over his face, he sighed and stood again. "I'm going to get us some water. I'll be back."

I glanced at Kate; she was reading her Kindle. I didn't want anything, but I knew we had a full day of flying ahead of us.

"Edward," my voice wasn't as loud as I thought it would be, probably because I hadn't spoken much over the last few days. He turned back, looking at me like he wasn't sure of what he'd heard. "Can I come with you?"

He looked surprised, then nodded and smiled.

We walked quietly through the terminal. He and I hadn't actually talked very much since they found me holed up in the apartment. I didn't truly know why Edward had come to Italy, but I knew that I couldn't have gotten through the last few days without him.

It was a little overwhelming to think about everything he had done for me. The remainder of Garrett's and my things had been boxed and shipped. The going away party our friends had planned had become a memorial service. Phones had been cancelled, and mail was forwarded. Flights were booked, and arrangements were made to bring Garrett's body into the United States. Edward had taken care of everything. While he was busy taking care of the details, Kate had remained by my side. She made sure I ate and held me when I woke up crying. I wasn't entirely sure whose job was worse.

There weren't many shops open yet in the airport at that hour, so we walked almost the length of the terminal before coming to an open newsstand. Edward didn't seem phased by the silence I was keeping, and he angled his head towards the store in inquiry.

I was tired of nodding, so I gave him a small smile and followed him into the store.

We gathered some snacks and drinks and, and while everything Edward chose was healthy—trail mix, dried fruit and water—my hands were full of candy and two bottles of diet Coke. I looked at the mismatched piles on the counter and burst out laughing. I couldn't help myself. At first Edward looked horrified, like I had finally gone off the deep end, and then he joined me, laughing so hard he had to wipe his eyes.

"How can you eat that?" we said at the same time before bursting into laughter again.

The cashier didn't know what to make of us. I had no idea how much English she spoke, so when I finally stopped laughing I just shrugged.

Grabbing our snacks, we took our time walking back to the gate. We were still quiet, but for the first time in days I felt almost relaxed. Edward stopped in front of one of the departures screens and scanned the list of flights. I watched him, thinking of everything I wanted to say. There were so many things I wanted to thank him for and a million questions I wanted to ask, but when he turned to me the words were gone.

He tilted his head and waited, like he knew I had something to say.

"Thank you," I finally managed. "For everything."

He frowned, and I knew he was going to try to shrug it off.

"Don't." I stopped him. "Don't make light of what you've done for me. For Garrett. I'll never be able to repay this."

Edward sighed and nodded. "You're welcome, but," he paused and ran a hand through his already tousled hair, "Bella, I was a shitty friend for the last couple of years. It's killing me that I'll never get to fix that...So just...Just let me get the two of you home, okay?"

I swallowed back my tears and nodded. "Alright, but Edward? Garrett never thought you were a shitty friend. I don't know what happened, but you were his best friend. Don't ever doubt that."

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	4. Seattle

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #23/Seattle

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch4**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** Thanks so much for reading. I'm posting chapters 4-6 today and I'm really glad I decided to post this in chunks because you guys might kill me if it posted a chapter at a time. I will say you might need more Kleenex somewhere in these three chapters but I promise we're pushing through the sad. You might see some sun through the clouds by the end of the section - just depends on if you're a glass half-half full kind of person or not.

Thanks as always to **SydneyGen** and **Seastarr08 **for helping me clean up my comma drama.

(Any and all remaining mistakes are mine.)

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It was only mid-day when we arrived in Seattle but, after almost twenty hours of traveling, I was exhausted. Since Garrett's death, my sleep hadn't been truly restful unless I took a Xanax but then I felt foggy when I woke up, so it was like I'd hardly slept at all.

Kate and I followed Edward down the jetway and through the airport as we made our way to customs. Advertisements and photos of Seattle attractions lined the walls. I tried to ignore them, but it was nearly impossible. So many of the pictures were of things Garrett had promised we could do together. I'd done a lot of sightseeing with Charlie when I was a kid, but Garrett assured me that I'd love the city even more as an adult.

"_Coffee bars, nightclubs and loud music. Three great things about Seattle I'm sure Charlie didn't show you when you were eight," he'd laughed._

I stifled a sob and tried to bury the emotion that had welled up from just thinking about him. I would have given anything to have Garrett show me around Seattle, to have our picture taken with the Space Needle in the background for our change of address cards like we'd planned. Everything about Seattle had become a reminder that he was gone.

We stood in line waiting for our turn to go through customs and immigration and I let out a loud sigh, wiping at my eyes. Kate put an arm around me and gave me a squeeze, resting her head on my shoulder. Edward adjusted his backpack and looked over his shoulder to check on us, his eyebrow raised in question.

Kate gave him a small smile. "We're okay."

I wiped my eyes again and nodded. We were all exhausted and ready for our trip to be done.

Edward gave us a small nod and pulled his bag around to his front where he grabbed his passport and other forms out of the front pouch.

When it was our turn to talk to a customs agent, Edward presented our paperwork and quickly answered all of the questions about our 'cargo.' I was a little disgusted by the insensitive use of that term, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to cause a scene, and I didn't have the energy to argue.

There was some discussion, and at one point a supervisor looked at the forms Edward presented, but eventually they let us pass through. We continued on our way through the airport, and I wondered again how I would have done everything without Kate and Edward. I was pretty sure I would still have been crying in the apartment in Italy if they hadn't come to help.

We were riding the escalator down to baggage claim when I felt myself sway a little, shocked at who I saw waiting for us.

"Oh, God." My hand came up to my mouth, and I couldn't hold back my tears.

Garrett's mom and step-dad stood near the bottom of the escalator. We'd never met in person, but we'd Skyped a fair amount, so I recognized them right away.

Carmen was crying too, with Zar standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders.

Edward caught my elbow to steady me. "It's all right. We've got you." His voice was quiet behind me, and I felt Kate's arm slide around my back.

"Come on Bella, mom can't wait to hug you. Look at her, she's about to rush forward."

Edward's laugh was more of a snort. "Right? Zar's holding her back."

I appreciated their efforts to calm my nerves. The entire situation was bizarre. I was terribly sad to be bringing their son home this way, but I'd been waiting two years to see them in person. I wanted to run forward and throw my arms around Carmen, but I couldn't. I couldn't let myself go like that or I would lose it, and I'd been doing relatively well since we left Italy.

It didn't matter though because Carmen broke away from her husband and pulled me into a hug.

"Oh, Bella," she whispered. "It's okay, honey. You're home now. Everything is going to be alright."

I had no idea how much those words would mean to me until she said them, yet it broke my heart to hear her comfort me when she had lost him too.

"I'm so sorry, Carmen. I'm so sorry..." I couldn't finish, and she simply shushed me and held on tighter.

We cried together. It was horrible and wonderful, and we didn't let go until Zar gently pulled us apart. He switched places with Kate so he could hug me while she and her mom said their hellos.

When I stepped back from Zar, I looked around and realized someone was missing.

"Where's Edward?"

"He's talking to someone from the airline," Kate answered, and I knew exactly what she meant. He was checking on Garrett and making sure the airline and the funeral home had everything arranged to bring him back to Forks.

"Come on, let's get your bags," Zar said, putting an arm around my shoulder as he started towards the baggage carousel. I knew he was trying to distract me so I didn't think about what Edward was doing and I just let him think it had worked.

Our ride in Carmen's mini-van was fairly quiet. There were plenty of things that we should have talked about, but I think we were all too emotionally exhausted to even think about any of it.

It had been almost fifteen years since I'd been back to Forks, but not much had changed. The downtown looked exactly as I remembered it - wet and half vacant. As usual there were a few cars in the parking lot at the Lodge; it was always noon somewhere, right? We passed the fire/police, and I wondered for a second if my dad was working.

"I told him to come by the house tonight," Zar said from the front seat as if he'd read my mind.

"He's working?" I wasn't surprised, just curious. I had no idea what his schedule was like.

"'Til eight. He's probably out patrolling by the reservation about now."

Carmen laughed, "That's code for driving out by La Push to see how the Chinook are running."

"I can't wait to see him," I said quietly, smiling as I thought about Charlie's love of fishing, but it was bittersweet. Fishing with my dad was one more thing that Garrett and I had planned to do together that would never happen.

We drove out of town, turning on a side road that wound around through the trees. Eventually, we pulled into a circular driveway in front of an old white farmhouse that I recognized from Garrett's photo albums. Zar parked, and everyone got out to unload the luggage.

I watched them from my captain's seat in the van, unsure if I should follow. Garrett had rented us a small cottage in Forks, but I had no idea if it was ready or if I wanted to stay there by myself. I hadn't even thought about it yet.

"Bella." My eyes met my mother-in-law's in the doorway. "Come inside. Stay with us—just for tonight, or for however long you want. We can figure it out later. Let's just get through the memorial, okay?"

"Carmen," I started, but stopped myself. I honestly didn't want to be alone, especially in the little cottage that Garrett and I were supposed to live in together. Resigned, I nodded. "Alright."

"Good. I made up the guest room before we left."

I swallowed hard. The guestroom, not Garrett's old room. I was upset for a second, but then I realized I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep in his room anyway. It would have been too much.

Grabbing my purse, I climbed out of the van in time to see Edward getting into a sedan that had been parked in the driveway. I was disappointed that I hadn't gotten to thank him again, but I knew it wouldn't be the last we saw of each other. If nothing else, he'd be at the memorial. Kate had mentioned that Zar asked him to speak.

I followed the family into the house and let Carmen give me a quick tour before I called my father from the guestroom. He said he'd come by after work, telling me again how sorry he was and that he was there if I needed anything. I was still adjusting to the idea of having a close relationship with him, but it felt good to have someone that was mine to lean on.

I did my best not to focus on the pictures of Garrett as a boy hanging in the hallway and managed to make it back to the kitchen for a late lunch with Zar and Carmen. Kate had gone back to Port Angeles to spend the night with her boyfriend Demetri, or Tree as everyone called him. She promised they would see us in the morning.

We hadn't been at the house more than an hour when ladies from the church began stopping by. They carried in casserole dishes and handed out hugs like candy. I was beyond uncomfortable, and the thought actually occurred to me that Garrett owed me for putting up with his mother's friends. I felt horrible as soon as the thought crossed my mind—for thinking it at all and because, for two seconds, I'd forgotten that I'd never get to tell him anything again.

It was only around four in the afternoon, but I excused myself and went to the guest room to cry myself to sleep.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	5. Tent

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #25/Tent

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch5**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

It rained the following morning as we made our way to the cemetery. Carmen promised there would just be a short graveside memorial for close friends. Garrett hadn't been a big church goer, and he wouldn't have wanted a lot of pomp and circumstance.

I stood with the Garrett's family and my father under a tent that had been put up to keep us out of the weather. Carmen and I had agreed that we didn't want to see the casket, and certainly not the hole it would be buried in, so several wreaths and flower arrangements served as the focal point near a podium in the corner of the tent.

The covered area filled with people, and yet they continued to come. Mourners stood in the rain around the tent. It was overwhelming to me to see how many people came to show their respects. Eventually, the minister from Carmen and Zar's church started to speak and the murmuring of the group quieted.

"Thank you all for joining us. We gather today to say goodbye to our friend Garrett Denali, beloved friend, son, brother and husband. Having known Garrett since he was a boy, I share in your grief and …"

My mind wandered then and, not for the first time since my husband's death, I began to question my place with his family and the community that clearly knew and loved him. I'd had two amazing years with Garrett, but what did that compare to the twenty-some years he'd spent with these people? His friends, his parents' friends—hell, even the lady at the coffee shop—they had all spent more time with my husband than I had.

The minister finished speaking, and there was a brief silence before I heard someone clearing their throat. When I looked up, I realized that Edward had moved behind the podium. He unfolded a piece of paper and flattened it before taking a deep breath.

"The family asked me if I wanted to speak today, and at first I thought I didn't, I couldn't, but I realized that I needed to… because Garrett would have wanted it.

"Saying goodbye to him has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. He was my best friend and, for all intents and purposes, my brother. I always imagined that someday I would stand in front of a group like this talking about him, but it was never like this... I thought I would be his best man and tell funny stories to embarrass him in front of our friends and his new wife."

Everyone laughed, and he smiled sadly. I wiped tears from my eyes, realizing again just how much Edward had lost as well.

He heaved a sigh and continued. "But Garrett got married in Italy, so I never gave that speech. I can honestly say today, though that I am glad that he found Bella and that he didn't wait to marry her. Despite being taken from us too soon, Garrett lived well and was loved, and that's about all a man can ask for."

He paused and looked out at the mourners, running a hand through his hair before he continued.

"His passing should teach us all to live each day like it's our last. Please, take the time you need to mourn him and to say goodbye, but know that he wouldn't want us to dwell on his death. I think he would want us to go on and make memories that we can tell him about when we meet again."

He refolded the paper in front of him and tucked it into his pocket as Zar moved to stand beside him. They embraced for a second, murmuring words too quiet for anyone else to hear, then Edward took a step back and Zar was behind the podium.

"Thank you all for coming today. There are so many things I could tell you about Garrett, about how much we love him and will miss him, but I know you feel the same; it's why you're here."

Again, I got caught up in my thoughts. I felt like all of these people knew Garrett in some way that I didn't, like I'd missed the opportunity to know all of my husband. There were so many things that I didn't know about his life, so many stories that we hadn't shared.

When I looked up, the minister had taken Zar's place. I hadn't even realized he had finished speaking, but that was par for the course since Garrett's death. Most of what people said to me drifted in like a fog, and I caught bits and pieces of it.

I recognized the phrases of the Lord's Prayer and began to recite it along with the group. My mouth moved automatically, but the familiar words brought no comfort. When the prayer concluded, he invited everyone back to the house on behalf of the family, and it was over.

The rain had mostly stopped, there was only a light mist falling as the crowd thinned out and headed for the farmhouse. I stayed rooted there, staring at the picture of Garrett in the center of a giant wreath. It was red, white and green, the colors of the Italian flag. I wondered who had picked it out and if they'd done it on purpose. It was a ridiculous thought, but it was a better option than thinking about the fact that this was goodbye. I knew he was already gone, but walking away from his family plot was so final.

Tears streamed down my face, and my breathing picked up as I thought about my future. What was I going to do without him? My entire life had been turned on its head when I married him, all of my dreams had shifted to include him the family we would start. And now everything we planned was just gone. I felt lost and more alone than I ever had.

"Everything will be okay."

A hand rubbed my shoulder and when I looked up I realized Edward and I were the only people left under the tent. My father was talking with Kate and Tree over by their cars, but it looked like everyone else had left.

His words only made me cry harder, and I shook my head.

"It will. It will take time, but you'll be alright."

"No, I don't even know where to start," I shook my head, and my chest started to feel tight. "I feel like I didn't know him. Who were all of these people? What did he mean to them? We had two years, but all of these people...You all knew him his whole life. I missed so much, and now I'll never know. I can't-"

"Bella, stop. This is a small town. When you live in Forks you know everyone, but you don't necessarily _know_ them. The two years you had with him—you were closer to him than any of us could ever be, even Carmen. You knew his heart. You were his heart. That's all that matters. The rest of it? The little things we did growing up here? I can show you all of that."

"You can? You would do that?" I almost couldn't believe him. He'd blown me away with his generosity over the past few days, and it just never seemed to stop. I wasn't sure I could ask any more of him. "I mean, you lost him too; I don't want to make you think about painful memories."

He sighed. "It's not like I won't be thinking about him all of the time anyway. It's going to be a difficult year; why don't we try to get through it together?"

"Will you tell me why you think you were a bad friend?"

He looked away, licking and then biting his lower lip before meeting my gaze and answering. "Yeah, but not today."

I nodded, completely understanding. Neither of us seemed to have made it through the memorial very well, and we still had to go back to the house to face everyone. I wasn't sure how much more I could take today, but with him by my side I thought maybe I could do it.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	6. Meadow

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #18/Meadow

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch6**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** So, if you're still here I haven't killed you with sad. I swear that we're turning the corner. There's still some stuff for our friends to go through, but I've only got 25 chapters to work with...so we're moving forward. LOL I'll shut up and let you read.

Thanks to SydneyGen and Seastarr08 for looking this over!

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

The luncheon back at Zar and Carmen's house was a nightmare. I nodded and smiled, shook a ton of hands, and pretended like I remembered my husband at least mentioning people. Kate had helped me sneak into the kitchen to get an undisturbed bite to eat, but I'd been accosted by Garrett's high school track coach as soon as I stepped foot back in the living room.

After a few hours, my feet hurt and my face was actually tired from smiling politely for so long. I was starting to clean up some abandoned cups and plates from the coffee table when I saw a gorgeous blond woman come through the front door as if she owned the place. I guessed she was a relative of some sort and didn't pay her another thought as I started towards the kitchen.

She had other plans, however, and stepped right into my path.

I wobbled a little, stopping short, and tried not to drop any of Carmen's dishes. I expected the woman to say something since she'd essentially just made a beeline for me and cut me off, but she didn't speak. She looked me up and down, making me uncomfortable.

I really didn't know who she was and I started to feel like a bad host. "Can I help you? Zar and Carmen are in the kitchen if you're looking for either of them."

She flipped some of her long hair over her shoulder, and her voice was icy when she finally spoke, "Yes, I'd like to see Carmen."

"Well, then follow me."

I was trying to be polite although everything about her set me on edge. Despite a beautiful appearance, she was an ugly woman.

Pushing through the kitchen door, I took the dishes to the sink where two of Carmen's friends were cleaning up. I glanced over and saw Edward at the breakfast bar, his eyes narrowed at the woman behind me.

"Get out," he growled. "How dare you?"

"Edward," Carmen gasped as Kate loudly swore, "Shit."

I put the dishes down and turned towards the altercation between Edward and the stranger. I felt Kate grasp my elbow and Tree's hand on my back. I didn't know what was going on, but I had apparently been spot on with my feelings about this woman.

Edward stood, but Zar moved quickly, stepping in front of him and cutting him off.

"Irina, we thank you for what you're trying to do, but a phone call would have been more appropriate."

She opened her mouth to say something and Edward visibly tensed even more. Zar gave him a little headshake and spoke again.

"Not a word, young lady. You need to leave. I'll show you out."

He physically led her away, and I looked around, trying to figure out what had just happened. It was all over in a matter of seconds, and it seemed like as soon as I realized she was Garrett's ex, the one that cheated on him and married someone else, she was gone.

I felt like a fish out of water, opening and closing my mouth for air, trying to breathe or come up with something to say. Edward was lightly banging his head on the breakfast bar and muttering curses under his breath while Carmen sat at the table shaking her head.

Kate finally broke the strange silence. "Wow, she's still a psycho bitch."

My eyes got wide and then I started laughing uncontrollably, I couldn't stop myself. Then Kate started laughing and, after looking initially shocked, so did Carmen, Tree and Edward. Carmen's friends were even laughing. That's how Zar found us, wiping our eyes and giggling about nothing and everything.

It took me a second to realize that some of Garrett's friends had followed Zar into the kitchen. Two couples who I'd met earlier in the day, Emmett and Rosalie along with Peter and Charlotte had changed into more comfortable clothes and were carrying in some beer. They all had stunned expression on their faces as we tried to calm down.

"Irina was here?" Emmett looked at Edward in disbelief.

"Emmett, you just saw her." Peter rolled his eyes.

"But what was she doing here?" Emmett continued, confused.

"Oh, for fucks sake. She was just stirring shit up. Give me a beer," Edward groaned.

"Don't be greedy," Zar said with a tight laugh, taking the six pack from Emmett and offering it around. He twisted off the top of one and handed it to me.

Edward grabbed a beer then muttered something about changing clothes and left the room.

Carmen's friends said goodbye while Garrett's other friends were all talking with each other, so I took a minute to try to ask Zar about the run in with Irina.

"What was that about?"

I knew about the break-up and that she'd been pretty heartless when it came to rubbing her happiness in Garrett's face, but I felt like there was something I was missing.

Kate's voice came from behind me before Zar could answer. "She's jealous."

"Of my dead husband?" I blurted, then apologized. "Sorry."

Zar put an arm around me. "It's okay. Well, she _was_ jealous that you married Garrett, but now...she realizes she'll never be a part of this family, but she had to come and try to weasel herself in one more time."

Carmen came over and pulled me into a big hug. "She knows she made a big mistake, honey, and now there's no way she can apologize to him. Don't you worry about her."

"She wanted to do more than apologize."

"Rose," Carmen gave her a hard look and Rosalie murmured "sorry."

I let out a deep sigh and held onto my mother-in-law for a second before stepping back. I still felt like there was more to the story with Irina for Kate to call her psycho, but the conversation seemed to be over.

Kate and Tree said their goodbyes then, taking some leftovers that Carmen's friends had packed. I heard them talking with Edward in the front room on their way out, then he came into the kitchen in jeans and a Forks High Athletics sweatshirt.

He handed me a Mariners fleece jacket. "We're going out to one of Garrett's favorite spots for a little bonfire. We're just going to hang out and talk if you want to come."

"Okay." I nodded. It sounded good, just hanging out and not thinking. I hoped I could listen to their stories and turn off all of the questions that were going through my head for a while. "Do I have time to change?"

"Of course, I just didn't know if you'd unpacked a jacket or anything. It's kind of a walk, so tennis shoes or boots would be good."

I nodded and went to change. When I made my way back to the kitchen, Edward was alone putting the ingredients for s'mores in a bag.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Where'd everyone go?"

"I think Zar and Carmen went to watch TV in their room. Everyone else headed out already. Emmett is a fire bug, so he wanted to get out there." I snorted at that; of course he was. "Besides," he joked, "I made him and Peter carry the beer."

"Good thinking."

"Speaking of which, is beer good, or do you want something else?"

"Beer's fine. I'd like a water for later, though."

I still felt a little strange helping myself to things in Carmen's house, so I was relieved when he grabbed two bottles of water from the top of the refrigerator and added them to his bag.

He went into the living room and called up the stairs to tell Garrett's parents we were heading out, then opened the sliding door to the backyard. "After you."

We made our way to the treeline where Edward led us to a slightly overgrown path. The grass was trampled from recent use, but it looked like before that the path hadn't been used in a long time. It was wide enough for two or three people to walk comfortably next to each other but hidden by bushes at the edge of the yard so that you wouldn't notice it if you didn't know it was there.

Edward sighed loudly beside me as we walked.

"How long has it been since you walked down this path?" I had a feeling that memories of Garrett were almost as hard for him as they were for me.

He ran his hand through his hair, that was certainly a nervous habit for him, I'd seen him do it countless times over the last few days.

"I came out here last week before Carmen and Zar took us to the airport, but before that? Not since Garrett left for Italy."

I wasn't sure what that meant, but I knew he wasn't ready to tell me more so I didn't press him. The air was cool, the sun hidden by a cloudy sky, but the rain was gone. We walked slowly but comfortably through the woods until we came to a clearing and stood at the edge of a gorgeous meadow. Wildflowers dotted the grass, and while it looked like a great place to get away from everything, I could imagine baseball games and hidden forts in the trees. I could see why it was one of Garrett's favorite places.

Emmett had started a bonfire in the corner of the field, just to the right of the path. The fire pit looked like it had been used often at one point. There was a ring of rocks around the actual fire and downed logs as well as a few stumps for seating. A giant wooden spool stood several feet away where Rosalie and Charlotte stood, using it as a makeshift bar.

"Come join us," Charlotte called, motioning me towards them.

Edward smiled and walked towards Peter and Emmett who were standing by a wood pile, talking quietly.

Throughout the night they made me feel like a part of the group, including me in conversations and asking me to tell stories about Garrett and my time in Italy. It was nice. Much nicer than I imagined it would be. I wasn't sure how much we'd have in common besides Garrett. Hours went by as we laughed, talked and cried a little. It felt good to just let go. No one cared if we laughed inappropriately or cried for no reason. It didn't bother me that Emmett and Rosalie snuck into the woods for a few minutes of privacy.

We were all sad, but coming to terms with our grief, and I was thankful that they'd included me. I understood why these had been Garrett's best friends and thought that maybe they could be my friends, too.

I was watching the fire and gazing out over the meadow when Rosalie and Charlotte came to stand on either side of me. The guys were talking about baseball and arguing over a call in the most recent Mariners game.

"God, I'm going to miss him. I mean, he hasn't been here with us for two years, but I always thought he'd be back," Charlotte said quietly, then chuckled. "If he was here he'd be in the middle of that telling Emmett he was full of shit."

I laughed even though I felt a sharp pang of sadness because she was right. He'd have been in the thick of it with his friends, laughing and carrying on.

Rose sighed. "Emmett's been a wreck. He won't admit it, but I don't think he's slept a full night since he found out. It's gonna be a hard year," she put her arm around me and squeezed, "for all of us."

As I sighed and leaned my head on Rosalie's shoulder, it occurred to me then that these people might need me to get through this just as much as I was going to need them.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **

Alright, everybody with me? Group hug. It's all good. As Edward says, "Everything is going to be okay."

Thanks so much for reading. I'm excited for the next bit and really much more pleased with how the prompts are working for me than I expected to them be. Drop me a line and yell at me for making you cry or just let me know what you think so far.

See you in two weeks.


	7. cafe

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #5/Cafe

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch7**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N: **Thanks so much for reading! I hope you like the direction this group of chapters begins to take E/B. I'm kind of excited about how all of the prompts are still coming together. I've been mapping everything out and feel like I have some great ideas.

Thanks to **SydneyGen** and **Seastarr08** for their mad beta skills!

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

After the memorial I spent several days hiding in the guest room at Carmen's house. There were things I needed to think about and decisions that I had to make before I could move forward. Did I want to stay in Forks? Move into the cottage? Where else could I go? Certainly not to Florida with my mother. She hadn't even called me. So I made lists—things to do, documents to file, pros and cons of staying in Forks. I filled half a notebook and still hadn't come any closer to making any of the decisions I needed to.

Carmen checked in on me now and then, letting me know when lunch was ready and leaving me a plate if I missed dinner. She knew that I wasn't just wallowing in depression and let me work through things, or at least attempt to work through them, on my own.

On the fourth day, she knocked on the door to the guest room and reminded me that I needed to meet with their lawyer. I wasn't looking forward to going, but I hadn't forgotten.

A few hours later, I found myself in a small cafe in Port Angeles staring at my food. I'd ordered soup and a sandwich for lunch, but I couldn't seem to make myself eat it. After meeting with Jasper, who was both Garrett's friend and lawyer, I'd wandered into the restaurant to allow myself some time to think before I had to drive back to Forks. I couldn't quite assimilate everything I'd learned. A life-insurance policy. A Volkswagen convertible. The small savings account we shared. Those things I could deal with. They were expected. But the much, much larger savings he'd inherited from his father and a sealed letter from Garrett, which I had no idea when I'd ever be prepared to read—those were a shock. And while I was still trying to get my head around those details, Jasper mentioned a deed for property and annual taxes.

I'd just blinked at him unable to comprehend what he was telling me until he explained. Christ, I could hardly breathe when I thought about it. Garrett owned the meadow where we'd held the bonfire the night of the memorial. Carmen and Zar gave it to him when he graduated from college. Suddenly it was mine. I didn't want it—I didn't know what to do with it. Any of it. How could I benefit from losing him like this? It all felt wrong.

"Bella?"

Looking up, I saw Rosalie standing next to my table looking concerned.

"Are you alright?"

I hadn't realized I was crying, but my eyes were full of tears, and I wiped even more from my face.

"Rose, hi. I'm-" I shook my head. I wanted to say I was fine, but it was clear that I wasn't. She seemed like the kind of woman who wouldn't let me lie to her anyway, so I sighed and pointed to the chair across from me. I laughed a little at how ridiculous it all was. "I don't know what I am."

She settled into her seat before quickly rifling through her purse until she pulled out a package of Kleenex and handed it to me.

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. Do you need to talk? Is there someone I can call? Something I can do?"

I let out a deep breath. "Just sit with me for a minute?"

"Of course."

The waitress came by, and Rosalie ordered an iced tea. When it arrived, she made a production of pouring several sugar packets into it. I counted five packets as I watched her meticulous process - adding the sugar, stirring, then sipping until the drink met her satisfaction.

"Would you like some tea with your sugar?"

It was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I looked at Rose in shock. Sure, she was kind to me at the bonfire, but we didn't know each other very well at all. What I'd said wasn't too outrageous, but still, I wasn't sure that we were the type of friends to throw out sarcastic barbs yet.

She looked at me for a second, like she couldn't believe I'd said it either, then she started to laugh. Loudly. So I did too.

"Jesus," she said when she was finally calming down. "You do that a lot, don't you, put your foot in your mouth? I mean, I heard you the other day when you asked Kate if Irina was jealous of your dead husband. That was funny."

"Oh, God. Yeah, sometimes things just come out." I sighed, then laughed a little, remembering other times when my mouth moved faster than my brain. "I've made my friend Alice spit out her drink on more than one occasion."

"I can imagine. Speaking of your friends...I was surprised that none of them made it to the memorial. It all happened kind of fast, but I expected to see more of your friends and family."

"Well, aside from Charlie and Billy Black, who you know, Alice is about all I have. My mom isn't really in my life. I had friends in college, but when you leave for two years, and have inconsistent internet connections and outrageous international call rates, it's hard to keep in touch."

She nodded in agreement. "But where's Alice? You've talked, right?"

"Actually, no. She works on a cruise ship. I think she's on her way back from Fiji. She won't be in port until next weekend. I emailed her, and I'm sure she'll be here as soon as she can."

"Wow. I'm sorry, you just seem so calm about it. I can't imagine coming here not really knowing anyone. And under your circumstances? Shit. You are one strong lady."

"I'm not. Not really. I don't know what I would have done without Kate and Edward, and now Zar and Carmen." I shook my head. "Alice will be on the first flight out. You know how Edward said Garrett was like a brother? Alice is like that for me. She'd move heaven and earth to help me. I knew she was out to sea, so I didn't even send her a message until yesterday. She'd have made herself crazy because she couldn't be here. She's the kind of friend you can go months without talking to and then pick up your last conversation like no time has passed."

"I'm looking forward to meeting her." Rose sipped her tea and looked around for a minute before bringing her eyes back to me. "Why are you in Port Angeles? Shit, did you see Jasper today? I didn't even realize...How was it?"

I should have been surprised that she figured it out, but then everyone in Forks seemed to know so much about each other it didn't shock me. I shrugged and swirled the ice cubes in my water glass, thinking about what to say. "Did you know they gave Garrett the deed to the meadow when he graduated from U-dub?"

"Oh hell, I forgot. Yeah." She smiled sadly and chuckled a little. "So you inherited a fire pit and some wild flowers?"

I snorted. I really liked Rose.

"Oh wait—and the money from his dad?" Her eyes were wide. "Did you even know about that?"

I shook my head. "I didn't know about any of it. Does everyone else know?"

"No," she said quickly, "I don't think so. Emmett and Edward knew because he used it to pay for college. Garrett wouldn't touch it for anything else. He always said it was for his family."

That made sense. And it made me feel a lot better. Since I'd spoken with Jasper, I'd been wondering why Garrett and I had lived in a tiny apartment on a tight budget when he had so much money put away.

"Bella, I know it's all been sort of a whirlwind, but what are you going to do? Are you going to stay in Forks? Or go somewhere else, back to Italy or something?"

"That's what I've been sitting here thinking about, among other things. But I can't come up with any answers." I looked down and rubbed the handle of my butter knife with my thumb. "I feel like a broken record, I just keep wondering 'what am I going to do?' but I can't seem to make any decisions."

"Do you want me to tell you what I think you should do, or just tell you it will all work out?"

I raised my eyes to hers and could tell how serious she was. I should have been able to figure it out on my own, but I'd been trying for days with no luck. She had a look in her eye, I couldn't tell if it was confidence or resolve, but it made me want to hear what she had to say.

"Tell me what you think."

"I think you should stay here. Where else can you go? You said Alice works on a cruise ship and going to live near your mom isn't an option. Your family is here: Charlie, Carmen, Zar—all of us—Emmett and me, Char and Peter. You're stuck with us now. So stay, take advantage of having some support. Go on a cruise with Alice if you need to, but come back and start over in Forks with us. We're one big dysfunctional family. We'll smother you and fight with each other and let you make mistakes. It will be epic."

I sighed and tried to think about how great that sounded. "What if I can't get over him here?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What if you can? You're not even thirty. I know you can't even think about it right now, but the odds of you meeting someone and getting married again are good-"

"No. I can't think about that."

"I know you can't. I'm not telling you to go on a date next week, or even next month, but you're not the one who died, okay? You can't give up on life."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I wanted to say I would never want anyone else again. I felt like I wouldn't. But she was right. I just couldn't see how or when I'd would get to that point.

"It won't be easy. And it might be hard for his family if you move on but look at Carmen and Zar. She got remarried. You can't give up."

"I just don't even know where to start," I sighed, feeling defeated.

"You start," she said, putting her hand over mine and squeezing, "by getting out of bed every morning and doing something productive, even if it's just one thing. And when you feel like you can't, you call me, or Carmen, or Kate, or Alice, and we'll talk you through it."

I tried to smile. "One day at a time?"

She rolled her eyes. "Right, and in a month I'll give you a poker chip or something like you're in AA."

"I was serious."

"So was I. Now, let's get out of here."

She dug around in her giant purse for her wallet and threw some money on the table before standing up. The look she gave me said she wasn't taking no for an answer, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and stood.

"Good. There's a white sale at JC Penney, and you have a cottage to furnish."

I let out a deep breath and felt my shoulders sag a little in relief. "I guess I do."

"You guess you do?" she said over her shoulder, shaking her head and laughing as she headed for the door. "You need to learn the phrase, 'yes, Rosalie.' Emmett can teach you."

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	8. cottage

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #7/Cottage

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch8**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

I debated staying with Carmen and Zar or moving in with Charlie, but I decided that I needed my own space. When Alice finally called to say she was catching the first flight to Seattle, I knew that I needed to move some of my things to the cottage. Carmen swore it was fine that Alice stay at their house, and I knew she meant it, but it was time.

Emmett had given the car a tune-up in preparation for our return from Italy, so all I'd needed to do was call the insurance company. In no time, I was headed to Sea-tac to pick up my best friend. The drive was long, but I was glad to be busy; I was beginning to go stir crazy with nothing to do but think about my future. Well I had a purpose at least. All of that time alone in the car was a bit much, but I filled it with listening to a classic rock station. American music had been hard to find in Italy.

Alice's flight must have arrived early because she ran over and pulled me into her arms as soon as I made it through the door.

"I'm so sorry, B. I'm sorry you lost him, and I'm so sorry I couldn't be here."

"It's alright. I understand. I'm glad you're here now, though. I really missed you."

"Well," she stepped back and bit her lip, "I'm here for as long as you want me, for whatever you need."

"What? Don't you have to go back?" That was news. I thought she'd only be able to stay a few days.

She waved a hand. "My contract is up in a couple of weeks, and I have plenty of vacation to use. I don't think I'm going back, so really, I can stay as long as you want."

"You may never leave," I laughed.

"I can handle it." She shrugged and grabbed the handle of a suitcase that was larger than she was.

She didn't say anything more and I stared at her back as she walked towards the parking lot, wondering what it meant. Alice was all for being supportive of friends, but she hated cold and rainy weather. She had a life plan that involved a big city, her own business and a good man. I wasn't sure how that was going to work out if she stayed in Forks while I became a crazy cat lady.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

The following morning we sat on the floor in the living room sipping coffee and laughing at the empty wine bottles, and bags of chips and cookies that littered the floor. We'd definitely made up for lost time. We talked for hours, crying and laughing, then falling asleep on the air mattresses Carmen had loaned me.

The sound of a car in the driveway surprised me, and I went to the window to see who it was. There was a large box truck that I didn't recognize backed into the drive. However, when the driver stepped out, I knew exactly who it was. I would have recognized that copper colored hair anywhere, but I had no idea why he'd come over. The passenger came around the back of the truck, and it still didn't make any sense.

"Who is it?" Alice called as she scrambled to pick up our mess.

"Edward and Jasper." My brows creased as Edward raised a hand and waved at me.

"Who?" she asked, as Jasper slid open the back of the truck, and Edward made his way toward the house.

"Garrett's friends. Edward is the one who came to Italy with Kate, and Jasper is a lawyer."

Edward politely knocked at the front door, and Alice ran to a bedroom to change clothes while I went to find out what was going on.

"Hi," he smiled, his hands shoved into the pockets of a pair of ratty jeans. "So, based on the look on your face I'm going to guess Carmen didn't say anything to you about me coming over?"

"Right," I laughed, thankful he had a sense of humor.

"My mom's an interior designer. She has a lot of furniture that she stores for displays and stuff. Carmen said you didn't have much furniture, so I asked my mom if she could help you out."

"You brought me furniture?"

"And some of the boxes from Carmen's."

"I don't know..." I'd been planning on splurging on a couple of big pieces and then outfitting the rest in thrift store finds until I'd worked a few months. I didn't want to spend too much until I knew what I was dealing with. "Is it expensive?"

He snorted. "It's good stuff. Wait—she doesn't want money for it. She did ask if you'd let her come over once you got settled to see if there was anything else you needed, which actually translates into her moving things around. The cost is having to deal with that."

I was still hesitant. Why were these people being so helpful?

Jasper came to the door with a box that I recognized as being shipped from Italy. "Morning, Bella. You want me to put this in one of the bedrooms?"

"Um, sure." I pointed him to the guest room and looked back at Edward. "I feel kind of weird accepting this."

"Please don't make me tell her you said no. She'll just send me back and make me try again." He gave me an exaggerated pout.

Alice and Jasper came down the hall talking, clearly having introduced themselves already. She caught my eye and grinned.

"B, they brought you some furniture! Isn't that awesome?" She turned to Edward but didn't tone down her excitement. "Hi, you must be Edward. I'm Alice."

He reached out to shake her hand, but she squeezed him in a hug.

A couple of hours later we'd unloaded most of the truck, and I'd begun to unpack my kitchen items. Alice and Jasper had run into town for some groceries and sandwiches for lunch. Edward sat at my new table sipping water and eventually I took a break, joining him.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Edward started acting nervous, tapping his fingers on the table and jiggling his leg. It was really annoying.

I put a hand on his thigh. "Stop. What's going on?"

He stopped bouncing his leg and ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes moved to the window for a second before he turned back towards me. "Do you want me to go through any of Garrett's boxes? You know, so you don't have to?"

"Maybe? But not today. I'm not going to empty those boxes yet." I frowned a little, watching his leg start bouncing again. "Are you alright?"

"Yes—no. I just want to help you get settled in."

That was bullshit. He was still feeling guilty and trying to pay some sort of penance.

"What happened between you and Garrett?"

"What? That's not-"

"Just stop. What happened?"

He pulled at his hair before quickly rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. Then he looked over at me like he was checking to see how serious I was.

I raised an eyebrow and waited.

Finally, he sighed. "I don't know where to start."

"The beginning usually works."

"Thanks." He rolled his eyes and took another deep breath, exhaling loudly. "I don't really know how much you know about Irina and Jared, but what you probably don't know is that when everything went down, I was dating Jared's step-sister Leah."

"I didn't know that, but okay." I nodded. The possibilities for how his dating Leah could have interfered with his relationship with Garrett were endless. I couldn't even guess how that had come between the two friends.

"Leah and I ran into each other one night in Port Angeles and hit it off. I didn't realize Jared was her brother until we'd been dating for a few weeks; they don't have the same last name, so I didn't even think about it. By the time I figured it out I was pretty into her, and everyone else liked her too, so it just became a non-issue. She knew that we'd had problems with Jared in the past, but that was normal. It was just a Forks, La Push rivalry thing."

He shrugged, like the animosity between the locals and the tribe was no big deal. From what I'd heard it was a classic West Side Story type of conflict, and those situations never ended well.

"After a while Leah and Irina became friends because we were always double-dating with her and Garrett. The girls started spending time together without us, and we never thought anything of it.

"You know we all went to college together, right—me, Emmett, Garrett and Jasper? Then Jasper went on to law school, and Garrett stayed in Seattle to work on his Ph.D. while Em and I moved back up here. The last year or so, Garrett was living in Seattle four days a week and back at Carm and Zar's for long weekends.

"I don't really know when things changed, but at some point Leah started lying for Irina. She'd tell people the two of them were together when Irina was actually with Jared. And then one weekend they ran off and got married. I never saw it coming. I let my best friend get blindsided by that bitch. She was cheating on him right under my nose, and I never saw it."

My heart hurt for him. "Edward, you couldn't have known."

He slapped his hand on the table, startling me. "Of course I could have. I should have. And when it all came down my first reaction was to defend Leah when everyone was calling her out. I couldn't imagine that she would do that to him—to me. By the time I got my head on straight, Garrett was gone."

"You're not to blame. Irina made her choices. So did Leah. Garrett never thought you were responsible. I don't think I ever heard him talk about you in relation to their break-up. It was Irina that he held responsible. She's the one who broke his heart, who let him down, not you."

"I should have known. And I should have been there for him. He was my best friend, and I fucked up. I thought when he came back that we could talk about it, that I could make it up to him."

"You're not listening, he never thought you did anything wrong. You told me the other day that I knew him better than anyone else, I'm telling you—he understood that you loved Leah and wanted to protect her. That's just how Garrett was. You know that he would never hold a grudge like that. He told me you were his best friend. I never heard him say a bad word about you.

"Listen, we can argue about this until we're blue in the face, but we're never going to agree without Garrett here to tell us how he truly felt. It seems like you've sort of transferred your guilt to me, and you need to know that I forgive you. I don't hold anything that happened back then against you. You have a clean slate with me. Well, that's not true because you've been one of the kindest most generous people I've ever met, helping get through this nightmare. So, I don't know, your slate is sparkly or something, but it's definitely not tarnished. Okay?"

He nodded though I knew he wasn't convinced. "Where does that leave us?"

I felt the corner of my mouth lift. "I'm pretty sure it leaves me still trying to convince you that none of this was your fault."

"Right," Edward laughed, giving me a sad smile as we heard Jasper and Alice's car in the driveway.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	9. High School

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #13/High School

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch9**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

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I'd been hesitant to keep the appointment for my job interview at the school because I wasn't ready to work, but there was a little over a month before school started, and I hoped that I'd be ready by then. So I'd borrowed Carmen's iron, pressed the outfit Charlie had bought me for interviewing before I did my student teaching, and drove to the school.

I hadn't been on too many job interviews in my life, but the one I had at Forks High School had to rank up near the top of the weirdest interviews, ever. Two teachers met me in the office and took me into a small conference room, introducing themselves as Mike Newton and Angela Webber. I recognized Mike from Garrett's memorial and assumed they'd gone to high school together, but Angela didn't look familiar at all.

"I just want to say again how sorry I am," Mike started. "I can't imagine how hard this is for you."

Fuck. I couldn't do this if he started talking about Garrett.

"Mike." Angela gave him a look, actually more of a glare. "We're very sorry, Isabella, but I'm sure you don't want to talk about that during your interview."

"Yes, thank you." I swallowed back my sadness and focused on her smile. "And please, call me Bella. I'm really interested in hearing about the position here."

"Well, it's really more like positions." Mike laughed, and I think Angela hit him under the table. "What? Oh! Not like that. There's a sort of epidemic of pregnancies with the teachers here, so we have several long-term sub positions that are opening up this year."

"Mike, you can't call pregnancies an epidemic," Angela groaned.

"What? That's what it is." He looked at her like he was challenging her to argue with him, and from the look in her eyes I didn't think it was a wise choice on his part.

"You're making it sound like a disease, moron."

"Oh, that's rich. You can call me a moron, but I can't say epidemic."

"You _are_ a moron, four pregnant teachers is _not_ an epidemic."

"I'm sorry," I interrupted before they either started punching each other or making out. The intensity was that high. "Are you looking for a full time teacher?"

They managed to rein it in and focus on the interview after that, asking me about my student teaching experience and, more delicately, about my time teaching in Italy. By the time we were finished, they seemed much calmer. I was definitely more excited about the prospect of working than I had been when I walked in the door. The four pregnant teachers taught english and history, and I was certified in both.

"I think you'd be a great fit," Angela said as we wrapped up the interview, "but our principal needs to meet you before we can make any decisions."

"Right. Let me see if he's in," Mike agreed, then stepped out of the room for a second before poking his head back in. "He's available now if you have a minute."

I followed Angela out of the conference room, thanking them again for interviewing me before I stopped in my tracks—shocked.

"Edward?"

"Oh, you know each other?" Angela sounded excited. "We think she'd be great for the long-term sub spot."

I couldn't form any words to describe how surprised I was to see him there. Granted, we hadn't talked a lot during our time together, but I had no idea that Edward was the Forks High principal. How had I not managed to ask him what he did? How was it that Garrett had never told me? Was he the reason I'd been interviewed at all?

Edward saved me from looking like an idiot and smiled at Angela. "We do know each other. Bella, why don't you come in my office and we'll talk about the job?"

Nodding, I said goodbye to Angela and Mike and followed him. He took a seat behind his desk and gestured to one of the club chairs in front of it. I sat down, straightening my skirt and trying to gather my thoughts.

"What do you think?" he asked, as if I should know what he was talking about.

Maybe he didn't realize how many questions were going through my head.

"About?"

"The job," he laughed, again acting like it was obvious.

My fingers were still on the hem of my skirt, gently rubbing the satin liner against the outer fabric as I tried to form my words.

I lifted my head and put my shoulders back wanting to seem confident but not accusatory. "Did you have anything to do with this interview?"

"What? No."

I watched him, looking for some kind of tell, but there was nothing.

"I don't think Garrett even knew I took over the principal job." He ran his hand through his hair and pinched the bridge of his nose. That was serious for Edward. "I knew you had an interview, but it was after the fact. Obviously, Mike knows who you are; he graduated with us and I saw him at Carmen and Zar's after the memorial. I didn't get you the interview, and I didn't say anything to Mike or Angela about hiring you. If they liked you, it was based on your interview."

I was a little stunned after his rant.

"Oh, um, I think it sounds like a great opportunity then."

Edward threw his head back laughing and I found myself smiling back.

"Good, good. I'm glad. It's hard enough to get teachers interested in coming to Forks, but then to tell someone they'll have to change classrooms...you know how it is."

"Right. I think it will be good though. I could use this year to see if this is where I want to be. Then, if I decided to stay, I'd be an internal candidate if something opened up."

Edward agreed, and we finished talking, discussing the start of the school year and the when I could expect to hear back about the position. He stood and walked me out.

"Hopefully Mike didn't scare you off," he teased. "He can be a bit much."

I laughed, remembering the way Mike and Angela had bickered. "He was fine. Angela put him in his place when he referred to the pregnancies as an epidemic."

"He what? I'm going to kill him." Edward's eyes practically bugged out, then he laughed, too. "He thinks if he acts like a fool he'll get out of sitting in on interviews."

"And you're not going to let him off the hook?"

"Not a chance," he said, shaking his head. "As of right now, Mike is officially participating in every interview we conduct for the rest of the school year."

"Wow, that's mean," I teased.

"Nah, that's what happens when you've known someone forever. He'll get over it." We both laughed and said goodbye.

As I left the office, I heard Edward's voice loud and clear, "Newton! My office, now!"

I could only imagine Mike's face when Edward gave him the news.

When I got back to the cottage, I told Alice about the interview and about Edward being the principal. As we cooked dinner, I realized that I was still smiling.

I was looking to the future with a sense of hope, not dread. I wasn't sure how long I could hold onto that feeling, but it was certainly a good sign.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **

Thanks so much for reading!

So, a little more progress….and now we have Edward and Bella set up to work in the same place and see each other on a regular basis. It will be fun to weave this all together so they can come together (cuz I already told you this was E/B HEA).

Question, I was discussing with my betas – how long do you think Bella should wait before 'moving' on? Just a poll, for curiosities sake. LOL

My goal is to put up five chapters in two weeks. I know – WHAT? But that's my plan. I have until the end of May to get this thing knocked out, so I start cranking it out!


	10. Greenhouse

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

Prompt: #11/Greenhouse

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch10**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** Thank you so much for reading. I know this is different from my other stories and that you're like, alright already with the slow burn, but I think you'll be happy after today's big fat update. I've been a complete failure at review replies for both F&R and AiL recently but I'm trying to get back on track. Just know that I appreciate every single person who reads. You guys make me want to do better and write faster.

Thanks to **SydneyGen **and **Seastarr08** for betaing and prereading. They make my comma disorder less noticeable.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

A week later, Angela called to offer me the job. She sounded almost as excited about it as I was.

"No one wants to move to Forks. We get a lot of brand new teachers who stay for a year or two, and then they move to a bigger city." She sighed into the phone. "I don't think you'll be like that. I think you'll be here with us for a while."

"You're not from Forks, though, are you?" I asked, confused about where her Forks love came from and not wanting to admit that my future still seemed like a giant black hole looming in front of me. I took things one day at a time, just like Rose and I had discussed.

"Oh! My parents are Forkys. My dad is a pastor, and he got transferred to the Lutheran church here while I was in college. So when I graduated and was looking for jobs I applied at a bunch of places near here to be close to them. Forks High School offered me a job right away, and here I am."

She was so happy. Sort of like Alice, but without the manic energy. I liked it. I felt like she could cheer me up if I needed it.

"Anyway, we did your reference checks and all, but you'll need to get your picture taken for your badge..." She chattered on about in-service days and meeting the first teacher who I would be replacing; her baby was apparently due five weeks after school started and we would both begin the year in the classroom. "...and I think that's about it. I'm looking forward to working with you. Let me give you my cell phone number in case you have any questions."

She rattled off the number, and I scratched it down along with the dates and notes I'd made for myself while she spoke. We got off the phone, and I looked up at an anxious Alice, who stood in front of me with her hands clasped together eyes wide.

I wanted to laugh at her nervousness. She'd spent the last five minutes listening to my side of the phone conversation that clearly indicated that I'd gotten the job, but she stood there waiting for me to come out and say it.

"I got the job!"

"Oh my god! Yay! This is so exciting! We need to go shopping for school clothes and teacher supplies and... what all do teachers need? Red pens! You need red pens and Crayons-"

"Wait! I'll be teaching high school english to start, they don't need Crayons." I grinned up at her, glad that she was there to share the excitement with. "I'll need red pens though, for sure."

"And clothes, don't forget clothes. Let's call Kate and have her meet us in Port Angeles tomorrow!"

I nodded and Alice leaned down to give me a hug. I loved that she didn't even suggest a shopping trip to Seattle. We'd talked about my plans with Garrett to do all kinds of sightseeing together, and she knew I wasn't ready to spend much time in the city yet.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

The following afternoon we returned from shopping with the car full of clothing and school supplies that Alice insisted I needed. The grass was freshly mowed and Edward's Volvo was in the driveway, the trunk and both back doors wide open. I saw him when I parked and stepped out of the car, bent over the flowerbed in front of the house.

"Edward?" I called as Alice and I walked towards the house.

He stood and faced us, wiping his hand on already dirty jeans and smiled, apparently unaware of the smudges of dirt on his forehead and cheeks. His eyes took in our JC Penney and Wal-Mart bags.

"Ladies, looks like you had a successful trip to Port A."

"We did!" Alice told him enthusiastically. "We went shopping for school supplies. I should have asked if you needed anything. Do principals need red pens?"

He couldn't contain his laughter. "No, the board prefer budget reports and discipline plans to be written in blue or black ink."

"Oh, that makes sense." She laughed and started towards the door. "Are you staying for dinner, Edward?"

"I don't want to intrude." He looked down, wiping some dirt from his shirt then using the corner of his sleeve to wipe his face. "Plus, I'm filthy."

"You should stay." I wasn't sure what he was doing in the flowerbed, but I was sure it was some attempt to work off the guilt he still felt. The least I could do was feed him dinner.

"Alright then, if you insist."

"Yay!" Alice bounced on her toes and smiled. "Should we call Jasper?"

"Sure." Edward tossed her his iPhone. "He's in my contacts."

"Cool. I'll call him and start dinner."

Alice didn't cook, so I was afraid of what that could mean, but I knew she wanted to give us some time to talk about Edward's surprise landscaping visit.

"So..." I looked at the pile of weeds that Edward had obviously pulled and the new plants he intended to put in the flowerbed. "What brings you here?"

He ran his hands through his hair, then shoved them in his pockets. "I stopped at the greenhouse to pick up some weed killer and remembered how sad this little garden looked the other day, so I got a few things to spruce it up."

I sighed and walked past him to sit on the front steps. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but you don't have to do this, you know?"

"I know that," he huffed, taking a seat next to me.

"Did you cut the grass, too?"

"No," he laughed. "Your dad was just leaving when I pulled in."

"Wow, I'll have to call him. That's... nice."

"We're just looking out for you," he said quietly. He scooted back on the stoop, putting his back against the door and sighed. "How are you?"

I moved back to sit against the door as well and looked out to the woods next to the house. "I'm alright. I'm just taking things day by day."

"How was today?"

"It was a good day. How about you?"

"My day was shitty."

"Is that the real reason you're here?"

"Probably."

"What happened?"

He took a deep breath and tilted his head back, looking at the clouds. "I stopped at my mom's and she gave me a box of stuff out of her basement. She does that every once in a while. You know, trying to get all of my crap out of her house? Anyway, today's box was full of high school stuff: yearbooks, pictures, a some trophies and a couple of those souvenir key chains and crap from prom."

"Sounds like good memories."

"You'd think."

He ran his hands over his face, then turned to look at me. His eyes were so sad my heart broke for him. I wanted to reassure him somehow that I understood how he felt, but I still had questions about his rift with Garrett.

I reached over and squeezed his hand before I spoke softly, "I'm sorry you miss him. I wish you'd gotten a chance to apologize in person, but you had two years. I don't know why you didn't call him."

"I did... but I couldn't see his face. He said he understood but," he shrugged, "I couldn't understand how he was so cool about it. '_It's all good, Ed. Stay out of trouble and I'll see you when I get home._'"

It all made sense to me then: the continued guilt, the the need to prove that he was a good friend. "Ah, I think I get it. You needed him to be mad, and he never was."

"Maybe."

I glanced over, and he looked peaceful, eyes closed, his head face to the sky. The set of his jaw told a different story though, and I knew he was still upset.

"It's not your fault. Not any of it. It's not your fault he went to Italy, and it's certainly not your fault he didn't come back."

"Some days I feel like it is."

"I know. Some days I feel like it's my fault too, and we're both wrong."

"We're a sad pair."

I shrugged. "I don't feel like I have to pretend around you, it's kind of nice."

"I know what you mean."

He held my eyes for a few seconds, then turned and looked at the sky again. We stayed like that for a little while, silently watching the clouds go by. Finally, he stood up and stretched.

"I want to get these plants in the ground so we can put some water on them."

"You want some help?"

"Nah, it won't take long. No reason for us both to get dirty."

I pulled my knees up, wrapping my arms around them and watched him. He made a couple of trips back and forth to his car to carry over more plants. Eventually, he closed the doors and trunk and began to systematically dig holes and plant flowers. As he worked, he explained what each one was but, aside from decorative grasses and hardy chrysanthemums, I had no idea what he was talking about. Plants and I didn't go well together. I warned him, but he promised they were indestructible.

Alice joined us outside after a while, waving off questions about dinner saying it was under control.

Edward was just finishing up and taking his gardening tools and gloves to the car when Jasper pulled in. He climbed out of the car and went around to the passenger side, lifting out two large bags of food from the chinese restaurant Alice had become fond of.

Oh yes, she had handled dinner alright.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	11. Bookstore

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #4/Bookstore

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch11**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

School started and I found myself exhausted, but loving it. Jessica Stanley and I were co-teaching her literature class for the first month, and things were going well. She was gracious about sharing her space, and I felt like we could become great friends.

I passed Edward in the hallway from time to time, but we didn't see each other very often during school days. It was silly, but being a teacher in a high school wasn't that different from being a student, in that you really didn't want to see the principal.

Weeks passed, and I was glad to be going to work every day. Each morning, the alarm clock's beeping forced me out of bed. I was doing better, trying to focus on my future, but there were days when I would have stayed in bed if there wasn't a classroom full of teenagers waiting for me. They reminded me that life was all one giant cycle. When you finish high school it's both an end and a beginning. I had to learn to look at my current situation the same way.

Jessica worked up until her due date and I realized that five weeks had slipped by. More than that, I realized that Alice had been with me for almost three months. I began to wonder if she was really planning to stay until I asked her to leave. Not that I minded having her around, because I didn't. She kept busy while I was at work. She cleaned the cottage and unpacked my boxes—respectfully leaving Garrett's things for me. She shopped, finding knick-knacks and unique things to accessorize the cottage, and managed to make friends with most of the population of Forks and Port Angeles in her wanderings.

It was all very nice, but also very unlike her. She had been driven since the day I met her, always working towards a goal: internships, graduation, her first job. Alice always had a plan. Yet as she sipped wine with me in the evenings and puttered around the Olympic Peninsula, she had no plan that I could see.

And then I caught her on the phone talking to her father's secretary, Siobhan. Alice was discussing plans to box up her belongings and have them stored. Someone was going to drive her Porsche up from Phoenix. I was shocked. Alice never took anything from her father if she didn't have to. He paid for college and bought her car and she accepted an occasional extravagant gift, but for the most part Alice Brandon lived her own life. It wasn't that she didn't love him, or even like him for that matter, because she did, very much, but she never wanted to ride on his coattails or use his name to get ahead.

Alice's father, Benjamin, had been a music producer in the 70's. He'd racked up a fortune by finding and promoting up and coming acts in the Los Angeles club scene. The stories he told and the photo albums he showed us were like a strange mix of _Boogie Nights_ and _Almost Famous_ full of groupies and bars, drugs and booze, and scantily clad women. Central to most of his stories and pictures was Alice's mother, Tia. Benjamin heard her singing in a small lounge one night and fell head over heels in love, begging to produce her music and help her make it big. She'd laughed and said thanks but no thanks, then asked him to dinner.

Dinner turned into drinks at a club while he scouted a band, then breakfast in bed and their story began. Tia never cut a record, singing was just a hobby to her, and through her Benjamin began to understand that there was more to life than music. They settled down, got married, and had Alice, though not necessarily in that order.

They lived a charmed life, raising their child with one foot in the club scene and the other in suburbia until Alice was eight and her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.

They moved to Phoenix to be closer to Tia's parents. Benjamin bought a gorgeous house in a gated neighborhood, but while Tia was going through treatments, and in the end when she was in the hospital and hospice care, Alice lived with her grandparents; my neighbors.

My mom marched right over and introduced us, delivering a vegetarian casserole like that was something you did when someone's grandchild came for a visit. Alice had given me this look, like 'is she serious?' I shrugged, then gave her a warning head shake when mom asked if anyone was hungry, and that was it. We were best friends. I stood with her family at her mother's funeral and helped her pack the house when her grandmother died and her grandfather went into assisted care. She'd held me when I cried after my last trip to Forks and, on several occasions, she'd offered to help me kill my mother and hide her body when Renee had done something particularly ridiculous or irresponsible. We'd been together through so many things that it was hard to imagine life without her.

Despite having been apart for two years, I felt like I knew Alice better than almost anyone, but the conversation I overheard made no sense. It sounded like she was moving to Forks—for good—and I didn't know why. I thought I was doing well enough, making friends and putting one foot in front of the other each morning, that she should be considering going home or back to the cruise line.

I hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but I found myself rooted to my spot in the hallway as she finished up her call. She slipped her phone in her pocket and turned around, gasping when she saw me.

"Bells! You scared me!"

"Sorry." I leaned my shoulder against the wall and tried to look like I wasn't freaking out. "What's going on? Was that Siobhan?"

"What? Oh, yeah. She's just taking care of some things for me in Phoenix."

I raised an eyebrow. She knew that I was on to her.

"Please don't be mad."

"What's going on? Why would I be mad?"

She wrung her hands together in front of her. It was one of the most un-Alice like things I'd ever seen.

"I'm moving up here for good." I nodded. I'd already gotten that out of the phone conversation. "And I'm buying a bookstore. With Jasper. I'm going to move in with him."

"Did you just say you're buying a bookstore with Jasper and moving to Port Angeles?"

"He actually lives in Forks. Well, just outside of Forks. He inherited this house from his parents... Sorry, there's time for all of that later. But, yes. That's what I said."

"How? When? Jasper?" I was shocked. Completely shocked. "Is this what you want?"

She nodded, grinning. "It is. I want it so much. We're in love."

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	12. Gymnasium

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #12/gymnasium

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch12**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

It turned out that Alice and Jasper had been spending time together while I was in school. They shared their hopes and dreams and told each other their deepest fears. She said he was her soulmate and her other half, that she knew as soon as she met Jasper he was the only one for her. It's like a _Lifetime_ movie, and I missed all of it.

We sat up talking late into the night. Well she talked, and I mostly listened. She told me about their whirlwind romance and their plans for the small bookshop in Port Angeles that had been for sale for over a year. My thoughts were all over the place. I was happy for them while feeling sorry for myself. It didn't seem fair that Alice had fallen in love while I mourned.

For the next few days I found my mind drifting between thoughts of Alice and Jasper and memories of my own love story. Luckily my students were studying a poetry unit, so I spent the school days distracted by Frost, Whitman, Dickinson and friends. I dissected some of my favorite pieces with my students and pretended my life was fine.

Edward was the one person that I wanted to talk to, and he had been at a conference most of the week. I felt like if anyone could understand how torn I felt it was him. We passed each other in the halls a couple of times on Thursday, but there wasn't time for conversation.

The football team was in the playoffs, and there was a pep-rally Friday afternoon before the game. Everyone was dressed in blue and gold spartan gear, from football jerseys to t-shirts and sweats. I'd even worn an old Forks t-shirt I found in Garrett's boxes.

Near the end of fifth period Mrs. Cope's voice came over the loudspeaker. She read the end of the day announcements and said that it was time for everyone to report to the gymnasium. I closed up my classroom and followed my students through the noisy hallways.

Mike and Angela had given me the lowdown over lunch, explaining that the students all sat in the stands and the teachers stood along the wall to watch the rally.

"_So, 300 hormonal teens fill the bleachers, and we all just watch from a distance?" _

"_Right." Mike nodded. _

_I looked at Angela with a raised brow. _

"_I'm with you," she laughed. "It's totally dumb, but you know these guys and their traditions." _

I was certainly learning that Forks was steeped in tradition, and that very little had changed since my friends graduated. I was pretty sure that some things hadn't even changed since my father graduated.

It was loud in the gymnasium as the students filed in, and I found way to a group of teachers over by the far wall. Students and teachers alike were talking and laughing as the bleachers began to fill up, and the energy in the room was exciting.

I leaned against the wall next to Angela and Mike. "So this is a pep rally?"

Mike snorted. "This is just the set up. Wait for the music."

I looked at Angela. "There's music? This is quite a production."

She rolled her eyes. "You have no idea."

"Oh, here we go!"

Mike pointed to the other side of the gym where the cheerleading coach sat at with a laptop. She moved her hands over the keyboard and the theme to _Rocky_ started to blast through the speakers.

Students cheered and stomped on the bleachers making a god awful noise. Suddenly, Edward ran out onto the gym floor and hopped on the stage. He was dressed casually in jeans a spartan football jersey with 'Cullen' across the back. The cheering got even louder, and he had to quiet everyone down. He went over the details about a spirit bus for students to ride to the game and gave a short speech about sportsmanship.

Over the previous weeks I'd seen Edward interact with the staff and students. He had a great rapport and was respected despite being rather young for a principal, but I'd never seen him like this... He had this charisma when he stood on the podium that was almost mesmerizing.

Beyond that, it was like looking at a picture from one of Garrett's albums, and I couldn't tear my eyes away. I could imagine Garrett and Edward with their friends at a pep rally just like this when they were in school. My stomach flipped a little, feeling both impossibly close to Garrett and horribly disconnected. It was a bizarre collision of his past and my present and I didn't know what to think.

"He's awesome right?" Angela whispered. "The students love how he gets into football."

"He led us to regional championship in high school," Mike added.

I licked my lips and took a deep breath, trying to re-center myself. "He was the quarterback, right?"

"Yeah." Mike nodded. "He could have gotten a full scholarship somewhere, but he blew out his knee."

"That sucks. I had no idea." Angela shook her head as she watched Edward, totally unaware of the way Mike was checking her out. Their relationship made no sense to me, but they seemed to enjoy the cat and mouse game they had going on.

Edward introduced Coach Clapp and waited until he made his way to the stage. They shook hands as the crowd cheered again, then Edward stepped down and began walking towards us. He waved at a couple of teachers then stood in the open space beside me.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," I said, a little surprised that he'd chosen to stand with me and not Mike or someone else.

"Dude," Mike whisper-yelled, reaching across Angela and me with his fist out.

Edward bumped his fist and gave him a nod.

I turned my head slightly to raise an eyebrow at Edward, and he rolled his eyes in response. My shoulders shook as I laughed quietly. Mike could be such a dork, and I loved that Edward got it but was such a good friend that he could ignore it.

Coach Clapp called the cheerleading squad onto the floor and they did a couple of spirit yells and cheers. The music came on again, this time playing _We Are the Champions_ and the girls held up a banner for the football team to run through. The coach began to introduce the players, and I felt Edward lean closer to me.

"Are you going to the game?"

"Yeah. You?"

He nodded. "Are you coming out with everyone later?"

There was a group of people going to dinner after the game. Alice had already invited me, saying it was her and Jasper's first official night out since they'd told everyone they were dating.

I bit my lip, still unsure what I wanted to do. I still wasn't entirely comfortable with my mixed feelings about Alice and Jasper. "I might just go home."

He put his hand over his heart like I'd wounded him. "You're going to make me ride with Alice and Jasper by myself?"

I laughed, then after a few seconds shrugged. "I don't know."

"What?" The tone of his voice told me that he knew I was talking about more than just the night out.

I put my hands in my pockets and avoided looking at him. "I don't know if I can handle seeing them all happy and lovey-dovey."

"Okay," he laughed, "first, no one says 'lovey-dovey. And second, think about this—is it going to be harder to see them together out at the bar with a group of us, or up close and personal in your living room when it's just the three of you? Because that's going to happen sooner than later."

I groaned and banged my head lightly on the cinderblock wall a couple of times. "Am I a total bitch? I'm happy for them. I just... I don't think I can watch it."

"You're not a bitch, but you don't really have a choice. She's your best friend, and they're in love. I've already seen them together—there's no hiding what's between them. You're just going to have to suck it up or you're going to end up in a huge fight with Alice."

"Did you just tell me to suck it up?"

"I did." He kept a straight face but I could see a twinkle in his eye as he teased me.

I rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh. He was right though, I didn't want to fight with Alice. I was truly happy for them. I liked Jasper. He was a good, calming influence on her. And I was thrilled she was staying in Washington. I'd made a few friends at school and I had Rosalie and Kate, but no one could replace the friendship we had.

"Fine, I'll go—but only if you're going. I don't want to feel like a third wheel."

"You won't. I'm going. I swear." He used his index finger to make a cross-my-heart motion in front of his chest. "I'll call Jasper and make arrangements. We'll pick you girls up."

I nodded, because what else could I do? Day by day my life moved forward at a snails pace but with the changes that were coming I couldn't deny anymore that life was actually moving on.

I simply had to decide if I was ready to move on too.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	13. Parking Lot

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #20/Parking lot

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch13**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Edward was right about seeing Alice and Jasper together for the first time. It was not something that I could have done at home alone with just the two of them. Even at the football game, as we sat among all of our friends, the sight of them did funny things to my stomach. They held hands and made googly eyes at each other. Jasper got her hot chocolate and snuggled under a blanket with her during the second half.

By the time we made it to the restaurant after the game I needed a few minutes to myself. I pretended to have lost my phone and borrowed Edward's keys to go look for it.

I climbed in the back seat and closed my eyes as I tried to relax. I was mumbling to myself about being happy for them and how my mother hadn't raised me to be such a bitch when I heard the passenger door open. I realized then that I probably hadn't been fooling anyone. I figured Alice had come to talk or kick my ass. When I took a deep breath I smelled cologne and realized it wasn't her.

I didn't want to open my eyes and face the fact Edward come to my rescue again, so I kept them closed.

"I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will," he sighed, "but you don't need to sit out here alone."

I opened one eye and tried to glare at him. "What if I want to be alone?"

"Do you?"

I sighed and opened my mouth to tell him that I did, but I stopped myself because he was right. I didn't want to be alone. But I was. I was so alone that it hurt to breathe sometimes, and Alice moving in with Jasper was going to make it worse. While she lived with me I could pretend that we were back in college and I wasn't really a widow and she wasn't really there to make sure I didn't wallow in my grief. But she was leaving, and I wasn't going to be able to pretend anymore.

All of the denial and the hurt began to close in, and the emotional breakdown that I'd pushed aside for months finally got the best of me. A sob broke from my chest and I couldn't stop.

"I don't want to be alone! I never wanted to be alone. I can't do this, Edward. It should have been me. Garrett was the one who could have kept going, but I can't do this. I miss him so much. And now Alice is leaving me, too. I just want to wake up and find out this has all been a dream. We were supposed to do this together—to come back to Forks and raise a family, but I'm here alone and I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this without him."

At some point during my rambling Edward had pulled me into his arms. One hand held firm around my waist while he slowly ran the other through my hair. I hugged him and buried my face in his neck.

"Shhh. It'll be okay. You're stronger than you think you are," he whispered.

"I'm not." I shook my head but didn't lift it from his shoulder. His sweatshirt was soaked with tears and probably snot, but I didn't care. I felt like he was the only thing holding me together, and I needed to feel his arms around me. "I've been trying so hard, but I'm tired. Some days I don't want to get out of bed."

"Everyone feels like that. You've done so well. There are people who would still be in Italy trying to figure out what to do, but look at you—you moved across the world, found a new family and friends, you got a job..."

I sat back with a sigh, finally wiping my eyes. "I couldn't have done any of that by myself. I would still be in Italy if you and Kate hadn't come to get me." I shook my head. "How am I going to do this? I can't even be happy for my best friend. I just want my life back."

He turned in the seat, resting an arm on the top of the seat behind me. "Bella, this is your life now. He's not coming back. You have to keep moving forward. I know it's cliché, but take things one day at a time. Today is just a bad day. Tomorrow it will be better. You need to realize you're not doing any of this alone. None of us are. We're in this together. All of us."

"But-"

His fingers covered my lips, and he shook his head.

"No buts. I know it's going to be hard to have Alice move out, but you're never alone in this. You may feel lonely, but you're never alone."

I looked into his eyes for a few seconds before whispering, "Thank you."

My eyes filled with tears again. It seemed once I'd started to cry I couldn't stop. Thankfully I wasn't sobbing, but I felt tears running down my cheeks. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to think about everything he'd said. It wasn't very different from the pep talks I'd been giving myself, and I was pretty sure he'd told me something very similar sitting on my front steps the day he planted flowers, but I needed to hear it again.

I sniffed and wiped my nose. "Can you please take me home?"

"Sure. Let me text Jasper and tell him that he and Alice need to catch a ride with Emmett."

I nodded and climbed out of the car, walking around to get in the front door. Edward took his place in the driver's seat, and I handed him his keys. His phone buzzed as we pulled out of the parking lot, and he glanced down to check it and smiled.

"Jasper?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, everyone says they hope you feel better."

It took me a minute to understand, and then I realized he must have told them he was taking me home because I wasn't feeling well. I smiled, trying to say thank you with my eyes because if I opened my mouth I would have started crying again.

He nodded, and I turned to look out the window. I was exhausted, on so many levels, and Edward kept quiet, understanding I was done talking.

The radio played quietly, and neither of us spoke as we drove back to Forks, but when we pulled into my driveway Edward turned to me like he had something to say. I looked over to see him run his hand through his hair, then lick his lips.

"I just want you to know you're not the only one who has bad days. Sometimes I want to stay in bed too, and I'd give anything—everything—to bring him back to you, but I can't. I just have to believe it's going to get easier."

"Thank you. I'm always saying that to you but, really, thank you."

He smiled sadly. "Anytime. Whatever you need, okay?"

"Okay." I reached for the door handle and then realized that I'd completely ruined his plans for the evening. "Do you want to come in? You didn't get dinner. I can pull something together, and I've got some Heineken."

"You don't need to feed me. I can get something at home."

"I want to. Please, I'm going to make something for myself anyway."

"Alright," he laughed. "Nothing too fancy, you don't need to go to a lot of trouble. And I'd love a beer."

We got out of the car and started towards the house. His arm slid around my shoulders and I leaned my head against him. I was glad that he was going to come in because I didn't want to be alone yet. And it felt good to finally be getting a chance to repay his kindness and take care of Edward for once, even if it was only in the form of a sandwich.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	14. Department Store

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #8/Department Store

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch14**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N:** Thanks so much for reading. I hope you're still enjoying the story and I'll see you back here as soon as I can. Updates might be quicker and un-betad as I try to cram 10 chapters in 23 days. We'll see. Thanks to **SydneyGen** and **Seastarr08** for taking this ride with me. I couldn't do it without them.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

I think Alice knew that I hadn't really been sick after the football game, but we never talked about it.

When I made my way out of the bedroom the following morning I found Edward asleep on one couch and Alice and Jasper tangled together on the loveseat. I stood in the hallway for a few seconds, my eyes drawn to the way Alice's hand rested over Jasper's heart, rising and falling with each breath. Edward mumbled something, drawing my attention to him.

I watched as he absently scratched his chest and rolled over. I felt a sudden jolt of awareness of the major difference in front of me. Edward was alone. Just as alone as I was. How could I have been so insensitive? I cried on his shoulder about not wanting to be alone and never considered that he might have felt the same. He'd had a few dates, but from all I'd heard he'd been single since his break-up with Leah. He'd lost his best friend too. How could I have lost sight of that?

First Alice and now this. When had I become so oblivious to the people around me? This wasn't me. I was a good friend. I looked out for people. I put their needs in front of mine. I enjoyed it. It made me happy to help others. Losing Garrett had turned me so far into myself that I'd become someone else, and I didn't like it.

"B?"

I looked over to the couch to see Alice looking at me with her eyes full of concern. I was so tired of being looked at like that, but I understood. I wasn't okay. I hadn't been okay, and I was the only one who hadn't known it.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, as my eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry."

She stood and quickly came over to hug me. "Oh, sweetie, don't apologize. It's okay."

"No, it's not. It's not okay. I've been selfish, and I'm sorry. I'm happy for you and Jasper. I'm glad that you've found someone. I just don't know how to mesh that with everything else I'm feeling."

"I know, and you haven't been selfish. You're mourning. You're still not thinking clearly, but you're starting to."

"I want to feel better. I want to be me."

"You will be. You'll just be a little different. You've been through some huge changes lately. Even if Garrett were still here you'd be different. But you'll always be my best friend. You know that, right?"

I nodded and sniffed, wiping my eyes, then grinned at her. "Ditto."

She snorted and covered her mouth trying not to wake Jasper or Edward. "Come on, let's go into town and get some doughnuts. Jasper's back is going to be killing him when he wakes up. I at least owe him a chocolate filled doughnut."

I laughed but glanced at the other sleeping body in the living room. "I don't know what Edward likes."

"Raspberry," his rough voice came from where his face was buried under a pillow. "And coffee."

"Lots of coffee," Jasper echoed him.

Alice walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before we headed into Forks for a dozen doughnuts and gas station cappuccino.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

That morning when we sat around my dining table eating doughnuts, I also realized that I hadn't spent nearly enough time with Charlie since I'd moved to Forks. We'd seen each other a few times, but neither of us had made any great efforts to get together.

If I'd learned anything from losing Garrett, it should have been not to take anyone for granted and I'd been doing a poor job of that. I picked up the phone and, with one call, made a standing date to have dinner with my father once a week. I spent Thanksgiving in my little cottage with Charlie, Alice and Jasper and felt like I was beginning to come out of a fog.

Garrett had been gone almost six months and, even though I missed him every day, I realized that I was surviving without him. More than surviving, I was living. Whether I realized it or not, every day I got a little farther away from my life with him.

Life fell into an easy pattern of working, fixing up the bookstore, and helping Alice combine her life with Jasper's. Furniture was moved into storage while new pieces were brought in. Books were sorted and seating areas designed. The master suite was repainted and the bathtub replaced. The kitchen was updated, though I had no idea who planned to cook in it.

It was normal for the six of us, Alice and Jasper, Rose and Emmett, and Edward and I, to spend an entire weekend working together on some project. Sometimes Charlotte and Peter helped out too, when she wasn't miserable with morning sickness that seemed to last all day.

It wasn't on purpose, but they kept me so busy that I didn't have time to think about the approaching holidays. I knew that they would sneak up on me but was shocked to find myself rushing around in the department store like a madwoman on Christmas Eve. I had a list, but half of the things I considered buying for people were sold out.

I was contemplating buying everyone a fruit basket when I felt someone standing close behind me. I tensed at first, but relaxed when I recognized Edward's cologne.

"You can't buy that for Carmen and Zar."

I snorted. "Why? Is that what you got them?"

He laughed. "No, I was just teasing. I get them a gift certificate for those Omaha Steaks every year. Then Zar buys extra, and we all grill out together so it's sort of a present for me too."

"That's kind of lame."

"It's a tradition." He shrugged. "Who are you shopping for?"

"Who am I not shopping for? That's the better question. I was so busy with school and helping Alice get ready for the engagement party this weekend that I haven't shopped for anyone."

"Ouch. Okay, let's get started." He made a bridge with his hands, turning them inside out and cracking his knuckles. "Who's first?"

I gaped at him. Was he seriously going to help me Christmas shop? On Christmas Eve?

"What? I probably know them better than you anyway, except for Alice." When I was still too stunned to answer he simply took over. "Okay, we'll start with Kate. She likes to read and do Sudoku puzzles."

He started walking towards the media section and looked back over his shoulder at me. I finally snapped out of my haze and followed behind him. Ten minutes later he was debating what scent of lotion Rose would like, wrinkling his nose after sniffing each of several bottles.

"You don't have to do this," I laughed. "I can finish my shopping. I guess I just needed a push to get started, so thanks for that."

"What? No, I'm having fun. We should do this every year." He grinned at me, then made a particularly funny face while smelling another bottle of lotion and set it down with a cough.

I laughed him and smiled as I grabbed a vanilla scented bath set.

"Give that to me." He took the gift set as I juggled the items in my arms. "We need one of those big shopping bags. Do you need wrapping paper too?" He made his way to a nearby check-out counter and started tucking things into a large bag.

I grinned as I watched him, and suddenly I realized how much fun I was having. With Edward. Just the two of us. My stomach felt...bubbly, not queasy, as he struggled to untangle the handles to the shopping bag. God, he was cute. Oh God, what was I thinking?

"Ugh, finally," he muttered, putting the bag over his shoulder. "So? Do you need wrapping paper too?"

"Um, yeah."

He ran his hand through his hair and nodded but the move he'd made a hundred times looked totally different. This time my brain dissected everything—the flex of his biceps, the pull of his shirt across his chest, the size of his hand and the length of his fingers. And the bubbles in my stomach began to churn. I could not think these things about Edward. I shouldn't think them about anyone, but definitely not him. Or wait, if I felt an attraction to anyone maybe it should be him? I was confused and disgusted with myself and I couldn't stop looking at him.

"Are you okay?"

My eyes snapped to his. "What?" I wanted to erase the moment and go back to being totally comfortable with him again.

"I just asked if you'd thought of anything for Jasper, because I saw a cool belt buckle that reminded me of him, but I've already got his gift."

"Oh, okay. That's a great idea."

"Alright then, come on."

He walked away and I tried not to look at his ass.

I tried but didn't succeed.

Oh God, was there some kind of hell for widows who looked at the ass of their dead husband's best friend? Because I was going there. Fast.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **

*Bites lip* I hope you're all with me. I really liked how this turned out and where this puts us. She's still a little skittish, but I think that makes sense... See you in two weeks and we'll see how it begins to play out!

Thank you all so much for reading! I actually made my goal of five chapters this week! WOOT! Now I just have to get ten more done. BAHAHAHAHA! We'll see how that goes. :)


	15. Sporting Goods Store

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #24/sporting goods store

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch15**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N: **Hello! I'm so excited you guys - I think I can do this! I have nine days to finish the last six chapters. They might go up unbeta'd - but I'm gonna finish! STG! LOL

Anyway, here's the next installment of five chapters. I think it leaves things set up really well for the last chunk. You'll have to let me know. I'm going to warn everyone now that you might need Kleenex for CH 16. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Thanks so much for reading. This story ended up being a lot different than I imagined, so thanks to all of you for taking the journey with me - and E and B.

Thanks again to **SydneyGen **and **Seastarr08**. Love you girls.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Christmas turned out to be much harder than I imagined.

My dad had to work until noon, and Alice went to Jasper's. We planned to meet up there later to watch movies.

I went to Carmen and Zar's and spent most of the day sitting with Kate. She had come by herself since Tree had gone to Tacoma to visit his parents. She said that until he put a ring on her finger she planned to spend the holidays with her own family.

It was good to see her. Being Garrett's sister she wasn't really a part of his circle of friends, but since he was gone I got the impression that they made more of an effort to include her. She spent most of her time in Port Angeles and had her own friends, so it was hard to find time to get together.

We opened gifts before lunch and I was surprised at their generosity. Carmen and Zar knew how much I enjoyed cooking and got me a _Julie and Julia_ DVD along with a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Kate got me a gift certificate to an upscale salon in Port Angeles; I still hadn't found anyone to cut my hair in Forks, and she said this place was the best.

Kate loved her sudoku puzzles, and Carmen was thrilled with the vibrating foot pillow Edward had picked out for her. Zar was more than happy with a gift card to the local hardware store. Everyone was impressed with my choices in gifts and I readily admitted that I'd had help.

As we cleaned up the wrapping paper I couldn't help but think about shopping with Edward. I'm not sure what I would have come up with for everyone without his help. Fruit baskets and cheese trays probably.

The weird thing was that before I'd run into Edward I'd only purchased two gifts. Some fishing gear my dad wanted from Newton's sporting goods store and a box set of football movies for Edward. I hadn't even found something for Alice, and she was my best friend. But when I'd seen the movies weeks before Christmas, I immediately thought they would be perfect for Edward. What did that say about me? About how I felt about him? I didn't want to think about it.

I was mixed up about feeling anything for Edward other than friendship. It was probably just hormones. I mean, I hadn't had sex in forever. That could do crazy things to a person, right?

I started to get angry after everyone spent the morning gushing about missing Garrett and wishing he was celebrating with us. I was mad at him for dying and leaving me with his family. I was mad at myself for not being a better wife while he was alive, and even more disgusted with myself for looking at his best friend's ass.

I tried not to seem like a Scrooge, but it was hard to hide. My dad saw through it almost immediately, but he waited until after lunch to pull me aside. He led me to the back porch where he lit one of his cheap cigars and gave me the look. The one that parents perfect when their children are infants that says, 'I know you're keeping something from me, so you had better just tell me before I find an uncomfortable way to pry it out of you.'

"What?" I huffed, pulling my coat tighter around myself.

"I know I kind of sucked at being your dad while you were growing up, but I can't just watch you suffer and not want to help."

"I'm not suffering."

"Could have fooled me." He laughed and blew a couple of smoke rings.

"I'm just... confused." I sighed and looked out towards the forest.

"About?" He raised an eyebrow. When I didn't say anything he just put his boot up on the lowest railing and waited. "You do know I'm a trained interrogator, right? You can just tell me now or I'm going to have to break out my mad cop skills."

I giggled. The thought of Charlie having mad skills at anything was ridiculous. Just hearing him say it was the funniest thing I'd heard all day.

"Seriously, Bells, what's going on?"

I picked at a piece of paint peeling off the porch rail. "I just...I miss Garrett but I feel like if I don't stop missing him I'll never move on. Part of me is mad at myself for even thinking about it and another part of me says I can't stay stuck in the past. I don't know what to do."

"Aw, kiddo, I'm so sorry you're dealing with all of this." He put an arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. "Bells, when your mom left me... for a long time I didn't think I'd survive it. I mean—Jesus—she took you away from me too, and it about killed me...So I know something of what you're feeling, and I can say from personal experience that the longer you hold onto the past, the harder it will be to let it go."

"Dad-"

"I'm serious. Don't be like me. Don't let yourself get stuck for twenty years and then wonder where your life went. You're young. You can still start a family. You might feel like it's too soon to think about it, but the longer you wait... Well, it's just more of your life that you miss out on."

I didn't know what to say. What to think. I had no idea that Charlie had been that upset by my mom's leaving or that he'd held on for twenty years. We must have stood there for close to five minutes before I said anything.

"I'm sorry, dad. I'm sorry she hurt you, and I'm sorry I didn't fight harder to know you."

"Hey, that's not what this was about-"

"I know. I heard you. I just... I have a lot to think about. But what you said makes sense."

He nodded and put out his cigar. "Good. Now, I hate to bring this up, but... don't you think it's about time you read the letter Garrett left for you? I think he might have something to say about all of this."

I was sure he did. That was exactly what terrified me about the damn letter.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	16. Beach

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #9/beach

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch16**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

**A/N: Kleenex. Get it. And maybe a cocktail. JS **

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

I put off reading the damn letter for another week, but Charlie was right—I needed to know what it said if I had any hopes of getting on with my life.

On New Years Eve day I got up early and grabbed a blanket before driving to First Beach out by La Push. It was cold and the beach was deserted, thankfully it wasn't raining. I walked until I came to the spot with the big rocks that Alice and I had found on one of our trips to the beach when she first arrived in Washington.

I climbed up on the rocks and put down the blanket to try to ward off some of the cold. I sat there for a while listening to the waves and watching the birds before I pulled the letter out. Just looking at my name on the envelope in Garrett's sloppy handwriting made my chest hurt. I stared at my name for a second and took a deep breath before carefully tearing it open.

The envelope was standard business issue, but inside was one folded sheet of personalized stationery. My personalized made me laugh. Garrett could never find a piece of paper. He was forever writing notes to himself on napkins and receipts. I wondered if he had purposely chosen my paper, or if it had been all that he could find.

I brushed my fingers over the words on the page, trying to imagine him sitting at his desk writing to me. His hair would have been sticking up on one side and the end of the pen would have rested on his lip as he formed his thoughts. How many times had I watched him work on his dissertation? Watched him stare blankly out the window until he was suddenly inspired and pages of writing would flow from his fingers.

Finally, when I could put it off no more I devoured his words. As I read, tears streamed down my face. It was sweet and funny, while nostalgic and sad. He told me how much he loved me and how excited he was to start a family. Then he broke my heart by saying that he was sorry, because if I was reading his letter our future was impossible.

When I thought I couldn't cry any harder, I read his encouragement for me to move on without him.

_I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing this, why I have been thinking these crazy morbid thoughts since we got married. The truth is I've always been afraid of dying—afraid I would leave my family behind just like my father did. Losing him could have destroyed my mother, but it didn't. She met Zar, and you know the rest. I am the man you know because of I was raised by my mother and her second husband. _

_Everything that happens in our lives is part of a larger journey, and you can't get from point A to point B without experiencing everything in between. I don't know what the future holds for you, but I know your trip isn't over._

_Ti amo, cara Bella. Sempre._

_-Garrett_

By the time I finished reading I was crying so hard I almost threw up. It was exactly what I needed to hear, but it still felt like a knife twisting in my heart. The letter was streaked with my tears, and my hands were shaking so much I could hardly hold onto the paper. I wiped my eyes and read it again, then carefully folded the page and tucked it back in the envelope.

Pulling my knees up I put my arms around them and stared at the water. I wasn't sure what I thought reading the letter would accomplish. There was no immediate sense of closure, no warm fuzzy feeling that all would be well. What I felt was relief—like a weight had lifted. It wasn't gone by any means, but it wasn't sitting so squarely on my chest anymore.

In a nutshell Garrett had told me goodbye and good luck—to travel on and see where life took me. It was the same thing that I'd been hearing from Alice, Rose, Edward, Charlie, Carmen... everyone. I was pretty sure Jasper had told me 'the show must go on' at one point as well. But coming from Garrett the words meant something more.

It wasn't permission to move on as much as a nudge, and a reminder to open my eyes to what was around me. Alice and Jasper's romance proved that I had been oblivious to things that were right in front of me for months.

I wondered what else I had missed. While I had finally realized that Edward was as beautiful on the outside as he was on the inside, I had no idea what he thought of me. Did he simply feel sorry for me or had we become friends? I would have liked to think that we had, but I truly had no idea.

I sat on the rocks for as long as I could, letting the peace of the ocean surround me. The air was cold and waves were loud.

Eventually a family walking their dog walked past me, and the private bubble that I'd been in burst. My thoughts came back to the present. I didn't have any plans until dinner, but I knew I should go home before Alice got too worried.

I was spending New Years at Peter and Charlotte's with all of our friends. There was talk of a poker tournament and movies on their new flat screen. It sounded like a great distraction from all of the heavy thoughts that I couldn't seem to escape.

I climbed off the rocks and shook out my blanket before folding it up and heading back to the car. I needed a long, hot shower and there was a cheesecake I needed to bake.

I'd never been one for resolutions, but this seemed like an important year to try. My goal for the year would be to look to the future with both eyes open.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **Deep breaths. I warned you about this chapter. But now we're on the up-swing. Even Bella is thinking positive - sort of. Hang in there kids.

Translation thanks to Google Translate

(If it's wrong you can let me know. I'm cool with that. LOL)

_Ti amo, cara Bella. Sempre._

I love you, dear Bella. Always.


	17. Ballet Studio

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #2/ Ballet Studio

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch17**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Despite being a sort of turning point, Christmas had been depressing. After my emotional morning at the beach, I needed New Years to be different.

The second I walked in the door I knew that I was in luck.

"Isabella!" Peter called. "Welcome to the first annual New Years celebration!"

"Wow," I laughed. "First annual?"

"That's the plan. Char and I got married last February, so this is our first New Year as a family. We decided it was time to start a tradition together."

"Plus this way I don't have to worry about driving his drunk ass home," Char added, joining us in the living room. "Hey, Bella. Glad you could join us. Let me take your coat."

I was glad to hear that this was party was new for everyone. There's nothing like joining a group of friends and feeling left out when they reminisce about all of the previous times they'd been together without you. I felt like even though they had a general history, this gathering was a fresh start for all of us.

Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was light. Peter broke out a deck of cards and the guys settled in for poker while we women went to the living room to play Cooking Mama on Wii. Eventually that morphed into Dance, Dance Revolution, and before I knew what was happening I was drunk enough to play against Rosalie. I didn't win, of course, but the years my mother forced me to spend in a ballet studio were finally good for something.

After a couple of rounds we were sweating and laughing so hard that none of us could dance anymore. It was perfect timing, as the guys came in and took over the TV to play Guitar Hero.

I'd like to say that I didn't catch myself staring at Edward's hands as his fingers moved along the buttons on the guitar, but Rose caught me, so there was no denying it. She was awesome about it though, simply raising an eyebrow.

"What?" I acted like it was nothing, but I'm sure she saw my blush.

"Did I say anything?" She sipped her drink and I could tell she was laughing behind her cup.

"Well don't say anything. I'm not sure what it is."

She choked a little on her drink. "Oh honey, you're a widow but you know _exactly_ what that is."

"Rosalie!" I laughed, mortified.

"I'm just saying. You're a widow, you're not dead, and that is a fine specimen of man. A single man, I might add."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. It's not like I'm ready for... anything."

I bit my lip and watched Edward, who still playing against Emmett, tapping out a Guns N Roses guitar riff. The song ended and they laughed and talked, high-fiving with Peter and Jasper. They had started to argue over who would play next when Edward's eyes met mine. He grinned and gave me a small nod that did funny things to my stomach.

I didn't realize Rose was watching until she snorted a laugh. "I'm not sure it matters if you're ready."

I took a sip of my drink, realizing it was almost gone. I wasn't ready to think about what Edward's look meant. Maybe it didn't mean anything. Maybe it meant everything. Shit.

"I might need another drink."

Char pulled the plug on Guitar Hero around 11:30 p.m. and turned on Seacrest's, I mean Dick Clark's, Rockin' Eve. We set out some munchies and started to get the champagne ready.

I tried to avoid Edward because I was a chicken. The more I saw him, the more I realized just what I'd managed to overlook. It was kind of unbelievable—both how good he looked, and how blind I'd been. Was I ready for anything more? Why did I feel like I was in junior high? Maybe I should write Edward a note and ask if he liked me. Then I wouldn't feel all embarrassed when it turned out he didn't like me. And let's face it, the odds were good that he wouldn't. I may have been blind before, but not anymore. I knew that Edward and I were in different leagues. That was probably a good thing. I could covett him and not have to worry about ruining our friendship with some weird rebound fling.

Before I knew it Alice threw her arm around me, pulling me into the living room as she slurred something about there only being five more minutes until the ball dropped. Char and Rose came in carrying bottles of champagne and a tray of wine glasses. As the host, Peter insisted on pouring for everyone. Soon we were all holding champagne and listening to him wax philosophical, giving a toast about good friends and new traditions.

It touched me in all of the places I'd been struggling to keep under control. I found myself sniffling as the final countdown began. I felt a hand on my hip and turned to see Edward at my side.

_Ten_

_Nine_

_Eight_

I looked down at his hand and then back up to his face but I couldn't read his expression. At first I thought it was sad, but the longer I looked at him I began to think it was hopeful.

_Seven _

_Six_

_Five_

_Fou_r

I glanced around at our friends who stood in pairs and realized that we must have looked just like them. My eyes focused back on Edward as he raised a hand and brushed some hair over my shoulder. Then his fingers ghosted up my neck to cup my cheek. My breath caught and my eyes got wide but his were steady.

_Three_

_Two _

_One_

He held my gaze until everyone screamed "Happy New Year!.' He leaned in and kissed my forehead. His arms came around me and I found myself quickly returning his hug. We had hugged before but there was something more about this embrace. It was solid. Promising. Everything I needed.

"Happy New Year, Bella," he whispered before pulling back to look into my eyes again.

"Happy New Year," I responded, barely getting the words out before Alice was practically jumping on me.

"Happy New Year, B! Aren't you going to drink that champagne? I'll have it if you're not!"

I looked down at the glass in my hand and realized I hadn't even taken a sip when the clock struck twelve. I'd been too busy trying to see into Edward's soul. I thought that for a second maybe he'd shown it to me.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	18. Classroom

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #6/ Classroom

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch18**

**Disclaimer:** The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer, let's not pretend like we don't know this going into it. M'kay? This story is mine, using prompts from the kick-ass folks at The Twilight Twenty-Five. What that gets me, I have no idea.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Somehow New Years Day wasn't awkward. I have no idea why, because it should have been. It should have been epically awkward. Not because Edward kissed my forehead at midnight, and I saw into his soul. That moment was between us. What should have made things awkward was the way we woke up—side by side. We were in separate sleeping bags, lying close together with our fingers entwined.

I opened my eyes, slowly at first, anticipating a headache from the champagne. But when I realized where I was and that I was holding someone's hand, my eyes popped open to find a pair of green eyes staring back at me. My heart pounded. Edward tried to pull his hand away, but I wouldn't let him. I don't know why I did it, it was a gut reaction. I didn't want him to think I was afraid. Well, I was afraid, but I didn't want to be and that's what I wanted him to know.

We lay together just looking at each other for a few seconds. I heard something and sat up quickly to see Char and Peter standing in the doorway smiling at us. I looked around the room and was mortified to find Alice and Jasper grinning from the couch and Rose smirking from the recliner. The toilet flushed down the hall letting me know where Emmett was. No one said a word. They had all been smiling, but seemed to school their faces after a minute, not wanting to seem too excited. I totally understood that. I didn't want to be too excited either.

"Coffee?" Char asked. "The egg-bake is in the oven."

There were a lot of mumbles and people began to shuffle around, making their way to the kitchen. I glanced back at Edward to find him watching me.

"You okay?" he said quietly.

I nodded, not sure how to explain that I was both okay and freaking out.

Time was frozen as we sat looking at each other. It was another moment like the night before when I felt like Edward was telling me something without saying a word. I had two choices. We could have a conversation about the shift between us, or I could avoid it like the plague. Well, maybe not the plague, like a birthday I wasn't ready to face. I squeezed his hand, because I wanted to reassure him somehow, and fumbled out of my sleeping bag before going to hide in the bathroom.

I shut the door behind me before I gasped at the stench and remembered Emmett had just been in there. I used the toilet and washed my hands and face quickly, trying to get out of there before I was asphyxiated.

When I made my way into the kitchen I was handed a cup of coffee, and the day went on as if nothing had happened. Edward and I shared a few glances and smiles, but nothing more. We never had a moment to talk in private and I wasn't entirely sure if that was good or bad.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

We went back to school three days later. Two days after that I was regretting my decision not to talk to Edward while we were at Peter and Char's.

I'd seen him in the hallways. I'd even caught him peeking into my classroom through the window in the door once. He hadn't said anything more than hello and I was beginning to wonder if it had all been a dream.

Alice had officially moved into Jasper's house on New Years day, but she was coming over for dinner because Jasper had a late meeting with a client. It was the night before their engagement party and she'd been burning the candle at both ends so I was making one of her favorites, veggie lasagna with Caesar salad.

"Oh my God, that was so good," Alice sighed, rubbing her stomach and leaning back in her chair. "I wonder if you could teach Jasper to make it?"

"Anytime."

"Cool." She sipped her wine, and her expression became more serious.

"What?"

"Are we going to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Seriously, Bella?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about Edward."

"What about him?" I wasn't giving anything away that she didn't already know.

"I saw the way he was looking at you. And I saw the way you were looking back."

I sighed. "I don't know what to say. Because I saw him looking at me too, and he hasn't talked to me since then."

"I'm sure he's nervous. You're his best friend's widow. That has to be weird."

"It's totally weird. I feel like it's this huge betrayal to even think about Edward like that, but then I think he was Garrett's best friend, so he would have approved, right?"

"You would know better than I would."

"But I don't." I poured myself more wine even though my glass was still half full. "And I'm still afraid that Edward is just being nice because he feels guilty."

"It's not about guilt anymore. The way he looks at you..." she shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"New Years isn't the first time I've seen him look at you like that. It was just the first time you caught him. B, he really cares about you."

"I don't know. I thought maybe he did, but why hasn't he even talked to me?"

Alice reached over and took my hand. "I'm just assuming that you like him, okay? But I think you have to make the next move. I mean, it's clear that there's something between you, but you have to give him permission to pursue you, if that makes sense."

It didn't. I had never been the one to make the first move. It was just asking for rejection. Did I really like him? I thought about all of the times we'd spent together. He always knew what to say and how to make me feel better. He let me be myself and he'd taken the good with the bad. We'd had fun and he'd seen me at my absolute worst. I had to admit that I looked forward to spending time with him. We'd been thrown together in a horrible situation in Italy and then gotten to know each other slowly over the last six months. There wasn't a thing about Edward Cullen that I didn't like, in fact there were a few things about him that I liked a lot: his eyes, his smile, his laugh... His ass.

"Bells," Alice squeezed my hand and I focused back on her. "I'm not saying you have to jump him or rush into anything, but you have to let him know that you're ready for more than friendship."

"I get it."

I really did. It made sense. I just didn't know how I would go about it. Everything I came up with felt very juvenile—_I like you, do you like me? Check yes or no. _As if she could see me floundering in my mind, Alice came up with a terrifying but brilliant idea.

"He's driving you to our party tomorrow, right? You'll have some time alone to talk."

Yes. I'd have time alone with Edward, but just what the hell was I going to say?

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	19. Police Station

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #21/Police Station

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch19**

**A/N: **Thank you all so much for reading. I love it when you drop me a note and leave me your thoughts, but I just love that people are reading this at all. So - thanks.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

I spent most of the following morning sipping hot tea and giving myself a major pep-talk. I needed to devise a plan for telling Edward that I liked him. I had already determined that it couldn't be done without opening myself up to heartbreak, but I wanted to find a way to do it without making a fool of myself. I let the scenario play out in my head over and over; Edward's reaction was different every time. Eventually I realized that no matter how many times I role played the situation he was an unknown variable, and I would never predict his reaction.

Cooking and baking always relaxed me, and that afternoon I baked two pies. One to take to Alice's party and the other to drop off to Charlie at the police station. I relaxed in a hot bath, taking my time with my hair and makeup. Alice and I had shopped together for the party, so I knew she approved of my dress. It was a knee length navy blue sheath with three-quarter length sleeves and a deep v-neck. I paired it with some tall heels that were reserved for special occasions and slipped on a bangle bracelet.

I managed to get ready almost half an hour before Edward was due to arrive. There was a nice pinot grigio chilling in the refrigerator, so I poured a glass and sat by the window. I went over my plan again but it didn't quell the butterflies in my stomach.

When I saw his car in the driveway I went to put my wine glass in the sink. I grabbed my shawl as the door opened and I turned to find him waiting for me.

"Wow," he said, his eyes wide. "You look beautiful. I mean, not that you don't always look nice, but that dress, the color against your skin... Shit. I'll shut up."

"Thank you. You look nice, too."

He wore a dark gray suit underneath a black wool trench coat and I could faintly make out his trademark cologne from across the room.

I realized that despite the time we'd spent together, both alone and with our friends, it was the first time he'd seen we'd seen each other truly dressed up since the memorial. Neither of us would wear anything quite this fancy for your average day at Forks High School.

"Let me help you with that." He gestured towards the shawl in my hands.

I could easily drape it around my shoulders myself, but the way he looked at me made my stomach do that flippy thing, and I couldn't resist.

"Sure."

He took the wrap from my hands and stepped behind me. His fingers teased along my collarbone as he draped the wrap over my shoulders.

I shivered at his touch and hoped he hadn't heard my sigh. I closed my eyes, steeling myself to have the conversation with him that I needed to. Should I wait for the car or broach the subject now? Before I could decide I gasped as he touched my neck. My eyes popped open and I was surprised to see that Edward had come around to stand in front of me again. His fingers were tangled in the ends of my hair and his eyes seemed to mirror my fears. I froze under his gaze and all of the words I'd considered saying to him disappeared from my brain.

Slowly, Edward's hand moved from my hair to cup my cheek. I closed my eyes to savor the feeling. Nothing was going as planned. I'd never imagined this, whatever it was. Opening my eyes I licked my lips, searching for the right words. I brought my hand up to cover his and watched his eyes. They darkened slightly and gave me the courage I needed.

"Tell me you feel it," I whispered. "That it's not just me."

"It's not just you." His thumb stroked my cheek. "Are you okay with it?"

I let out the breath I hadn't even realized I was holding and smiled. "I'm kind of freaking out, but I can't stop thinking about it. You."

"Yeah?" He grinned and it was adorable, like he'd never expected me to return his feelings. I knew exactly how that felt. "What do you think about me?"

"Um," I stammered, unprepared for that question. I moved my hands in between us and fidgeted with my watch.

"Oh God, I was teasing. I didn't mean to push you. Come here." He pulled me into his arms and gently stroked his hand over my hair. "We'll do this at your pace. Whatever you want."

My arms snaked around his waist, and I nodded against his chest. "I'm not sure what I want. I just... I want more of this, whatever it is, with you."

He kissed the top of my head. "That sounds nice."

He'd held me before in times of desperation and despair, but this was different. It was like the hug he'd given me on New Years, but this was... everything.

Edward's warmth seeped into my bones; it felt amazing. Our bodies lined up perfectly and we melted together. I took a deep breath and let his scent fill my lungs. Suddenly my uncertainty seemed ridiculous. I was exactly where I wanted to be. The only question that remained was whether or not Edward had really thought this through.

I sighed and looked up at him. "Are _you _okay with this? I mean, with having feelings for me?"

"I am." He ran his hand through his hair before looking down at me, his eyes serious. "I wasn't supposed to feel like this for you, you know? But I do, and it won't go away."

"No, I don't think it will."

He looked down at me, brushing my cheek with the back of his hand. "I don't want to pressure you, but I'd really like to kiss you. May I?"

I nodded and watched his face inch closer. His lips were soft, and my traitorous body reacted immediately. I wanted more, maybe not everything, not yet, but more than this kiss.

Edward licked his lips, but it was enough for me to press forward and taste him. He made a low sound in his throat before deepening the kiss, yet somehow managing to keep things soft and slow. Part of me wanted passion and fire, but the rational part of my brain knew that this, whatever it was between us, was just the beginning.

We kissed for forever, or maybe it was only a few minutes, but when we were through he hugged me again, kissing the top of my head.

"We're going to be late," he sighed.

"Alice would never forgive us." I could only imagine her reaction. She was going to be full of questions anyway, but if we were late she would be relentless.

I stepped back and straightened my shawl before getting the pie out of the refrigerator. Edward was waiting at the door when I turned around. He smiled and took the pan from me before opening the front door.

We made our way down the front steps, and he led me to the car—hand in hand.

Our little talk had definitely been much shorter than planned, but had gone much better than I ever imagined.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **

*Wipes brow* We good? I feel good about where we are and wrapping this up in a bow in six chapters in nine days. Fuck. I need to get writing! (Obviously this will post next week. AiL is still on track to post on Tuesday, so don't go freaking out. LOL)

Thanks again for reading!

(OH and that was the lamest use of a prompt ever, yeah? LMAO It worked tho!)


	20. Garage

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #10/garage

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch20**

**A/N: **Good news/Bad news. Good news - I've completed the challenge! Bad news - I had a o/s yanked on FF Monday night so I couldn't post here for a few days - after the contest deadline. So I posted on my blog last night - which I have been all along so I don't feel like it's cheating - to squeak in within the time-limit! So I guess it's not really bad news... unless you were waiting for my AiL update on FFnet... which I just put up on FF. (Sorry for spamming your inbox, but I'm posting it all this morning!)

Anyway - Here are the last six chapters of **Fire and Rain**. Thank you so much for reading. The sad in this story lasted longer than I anticipated, but I think it turned around. You'll have to let me know.

Thanks to **SydneyGen** and **Seastarr08** for pre-reading and fixing my mistakes. Any and all remaining errors are mine.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Dating Edward was much easier than I anticipated. He was incredibly patient, allowing us to take things at a veritable snails pace. We made out like teenagers, going a little further each time until I thought I'd go crazy wanting him. He had his reasons for taking things slow as well, as I soon found out.

We had some serious conversations right away, and I was suddenly aware that I'd become a grown up. We talked about what our dating meant for us at work, and how we were going to tell Carmen and Zar about our new relationship. Most of our friends had figured out there was something going on between us, so we chose to tell Garrett's parents before anyone else.

I invited them to dinner, and they didn't question anything when they arrived to find Edward already at the cottage. We told them our news after spaghetti and a bottle of wine. They tried to be happy for us but it was difficult—for all of us.

"That's... lovely," Carmen sniffed. "I'm sad, but I'm happy for you." She tried, but failed, to blink back her tears and muttered an apology before leaving the room.

I stood to go after her, but Zar shook his head.

"Let her go, honey. Just give her a minute. She'll be okay." His smile was full of sadness. "You're good people. You deserve to find happiness. It's just hard to think of how different things could have been."

His eyes were glassy with tears and my heart broke for him. Edward squeezed my hand under the table, and I knew he felt the same way.

"Anyway," Zar nodded, "thank you for telling us. It means a lot that you didn't want us to find out from someone else."

When Carmen came back from the bathroom she still looked upset, but she put on a good front. "Did you say earlier there was cake for dessert?" she asked with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Edward and I had several conversations about my career at Forks High School. As the principal it wasn't appropriate for him to date a teacher, but he said it wasn't entirely unheard of for staff to date and even marry.

We were halfway through the school year, and I was scheduled to switch classrooms in a few weeks time when the next in the line of pregnant teachers went on maternity leave. There was another teacher on maternity leave in the middle school as well. After much debate, we decided Edward should meet with James Hunter, the superintendent, to discuss having me switch assignments so I no longer worked in his building.

It was a tough call. Outing ourselves made it look like we had something to hide, but not telling the administration made us look shady. In the end James had simply laughed, and told Edward to do what he thought was best. Turned out, when he worked in a different district, James had married his secretary—who was also fifteen years younger than him. He didn't anticipate trouble with the school board but advised Edward it might not be a good idea for me to apply full time until we were married.

I had gotten a panicked look on my face when Edward told me that part of the story and he just laughed, assuring me he told James we'd only just started dating. It left me shaken though. Did that mean Edward didn't ever see us getting married? If he didn't, what were we doing?

Edward had waited, watching my emotions play out on my face before shaking his head and putting his arms around me.

"I thought we were taking things slow," he chuckled. "Now you're all freaked out because I didn't tell James I want to marry you."

"Do you?"

My mouth was dry. My stomach was doing those crazy things but this time it wasn't a good sign.

"Bella," he sighed, "we don't need to have this conversation yet. Do I eventually, at some time down the road, think I might want to marry you? Yes. Am I going to pressure you by even asking you if you feel the same? No. We have plenty of time for that."

I licked my lips and felt my heart begin to slow to its regular pace. "Okay."

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, trying to pull my thoughts together. "I'm sure I'm not ready to have this conversation, but I'm also sure that I wouldn't invest my time in us if I didn't hope for a future. Does that make sense?"

He pushed some of my hair over my shoulder and smiled at me. "It makes total sense."

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Telling our core group of friends was easy. Emmett made jokes. Alice cried, and Rose said I told you so. They all took it in stride, but like Char said, they'd pretty much seen it coming for months. It made me laugh, because I certainly hadn't. Even my phone call to Kate ended with us giggling about her former childhood crush on Edward. The person who took the news the worst was a complete shock.

Edward and I walked into Emmett and Rosalie's garage one night in February when they were having everyone over to watch a Sonics basketball game. Mike Newton stood near the back door, watching us as the beer he was pouring overflowed. He didn't even notice. Beer soaked his shoe and started to puddle on the floor. He cocked his head and continued to look at us, and I could almost feel his eyes focused on our joined hands.

"What the mother fuck?" Rose barked at him when she saw the beer on the floor. "Clean that shit up, Newton." She grabbed an old towel off a shelf and tossed it near Mike's feet.

"Shit. Sorry. I just..." he looked at us, confused. "What the fuck, Edward?"

"Mike-" Edward started, but Mike interrupted, sounding disgusted. "She's Garrett's widow. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking she's an adult and can make her own decisions."

Edward seemed calm, but I felt sick. Did others feel the same way Mike did?

"She's heartbroken! She's not ready to date." Mike spit the last word out like it was dirty.

"Excuse me," I said loudly. "_She_ is standing right here."

"I'm sorry, Bella." Mike shook his head and set his beer down hard, sloshing more on a shelf. "This just isn't right. You can't be ready to move on—and with Edward?" He gave Edward a disapproving look. "It's not right."

I stiffened. "Wait, are you upset with Edward? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"He's taking advantage of you. You're not ready for this."

"Taking advantage of me? I had to ask him if he was attracted to me! He was waiting for me to be ready. "

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

Hurt? What the hell did he think happened to me?

"Newsflash, Mike: my husband died. I've already been hurt."

Edward put a hand on my arm, and I turned toward him. "You don't need to defend yourself to him."

"Yeah, I do. Because if he's thinking it, then other people are too." I sighed and looked back to Mike.

"How long should I wait? When will it have been long enough for me to move on, to live again? Because I didn't know there was a prescribed amount of time. I thought maybe when I'd finally stopped crying myself to sleep at night and actually looking forward to things again that it might be time to try. But if you know something I don't, please, enlighten me."

"I don't know, Bella." He was much quieter. "I'm just worried about you. He was Garrett's best friend, isn't that weird?

"It is what it is," I said, frustrated.

"It's none of your business." Edward was getting pissed.

I knew Mike meant well, but I'd had enough.

"You know what Mike? You were friends with Garrett too, but I didn't see you in Italy when I could barely function. You didn't stay after the memorial to make sure I was okay. You didn't hold me when I had a complete fucking breakdown over being alone. You didn't help me Christmas shop when I'd waited until the last minute because I didn't want to think about spending the holiday without Garrett. It was Edward. It was always Edward."

I turned towards Edward again and noticed a some of our friends gathered in the doorway. It was horrible timing, or maybe it was perfect in case anyone else doubted me. Us. I bit my lip as I looked into his eyes.

"I know it should be weird, and I know I shouldn't have fallen for him... but I did."


	21. Movie Theater

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #19/movie theater

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch21**

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

There were a few 'aws' from the doorway, but my eyes were on Edward.

He smirked and put his hands in my hair, pulling me toward him for a hard kiss. The bag of chips I was carrying fell out of my fingers, and I slid my hands up his chest.

The kiss ended as suddenly as it started. Our breathing was heavy, and our foreheads touching.

I couldn't believe I'd gone off on Mike and ended up confessing my feelings for Edward in front of all of our friends. I tried not to giggle at the ridiculousness of the situation. It was like a cheesy movie, and not one that you saw in the theater, one that aired on Lifetime late at night.

"Did that really just happen?" I whispered, feeling a blush creep up my neck.

He smirked and nodded.

Part of me wanted to laugh, and the other part of me wanted to drag Edward out of that party so I could have my way with him. He licked his lips and I was done for.

I glanced at our friends then back at Edward. "Um, can we go home?" I asked quietly.

He raised an eyebrow and laughed before leaning down to kiss me again. He grabbed my hand and we walked out of the garage.

"I'm gonna take Bella home," he called over his shoulder. "Have a good night."

Emmett's hearty laughter rang out through the garage and I heard Alice yell, "Call me in the morning!"

I was too embarrassed to turn around, but not embarrassed enough to stop myself from leaving with Edward.

When he opened my car door, Edward turned back and called to Mike. "Hey Newton, we'll talk next week. Yeah?"

"Um, sure," was his response.

I don't think Mike really knew if Edward was upset with him or not. Truth be told, I wasn't sure either. I could understand if he was, but I also understood that Mike was just trying to be a friend—to all of us, really. He didn't go about expressing himself in the best way, but ultimately he didn't want anyone to get hurt.

We didn't talk much on the drive home, but Edward held my hand, his thumb making circles on my skin.

Though we'd officially only been dating about six weeks we'd been close for much longer, since the night of Garrett's memorial. Things between us had changed so slowly that I hadn't noticed until it was right in front of me, or really his ass was. I'd still tried to take things slow after I'd admitted my feelings for him because I was afraid of getting hurt. But I'd come to realize that Edward made me happy, and more than that he'd become my person—the one I wanted to call when something funny happened and the one I wanted to turn to for advice. There was no need to wait any longer. Waiting was highly over-rated.

We'd had the talk about our past relationships and sexual health and assured each other we were clean. He knew that I was on birth control because he'd had to bring me home from work one afternoon when my cramps were so awful I couldn't drive. I'd taken a painkiller and gone to my bedroom, stretching out with a heating pad on my belly.

Edward had sat beside me gently rubbing my back as the medicine began to take effect. He asked if my periods were always bad and I felt relaxed enough to explain that I'd let my prescription lapse after Garrett died.I needed to go back on the pill to help with my periods. I told him that Angela had recommended a doctor in Port Angeles, but my appointment wasn't scheduled for another week. He'd listened quietly to my rambling lesson on low-dose birth control in relation to cramps and flow without so much as a word. Eventually he lay down behind me and we took a nap together. At that moment I was pretty sure he was the most perfect boyfriend ever.

Edward parked close to the house and put an arm around me as we walked up the path. I unlocked the door and followed him inside. Before I could even toss my keys in the bowl, he had me wrapped in his arms and pushed against the door. He left small kisses on my neck and tangled his hands in my hair.

His lips finally reached mine, and my arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer. I slid my hands over his back, then under his shirt. His skin was smooth and warm, and I couldn't get enough. I pushed his shirt up his chest, and he quickly finished what I started, pulling it over his head and tossing it on the floor. My hands roamed over his chest, landing on his shoulders when he began to trace the line of my v-neck with his nose.

I shivered as his hands slipped under my shirt, skimming my sides until they found my breasts. He cupped them, running his thumbs over my nipples before lowering his head to circle them with his tongue through the lace of my bra.

"Beautiful," he murmured, his eyes never leaving my chest.

My breath was ragged as I let my head drop back against the door. He continued to focus on my breasts, but I wanted to feel him everywhere. I pulled him tighter against me and rocked my hips against his. His hands dropped to my waist, stilling my movement.

He pushed his forehead against my shoulder, breathing heavy. After a few seconds, he lifted his head and brought one hand to my throat, his thumb stroking my pulse point. His eyes were dark as they stared into mine.

"Tell me to stop."

I held his gaze and shook my head 'no' as my fingers moved to the button on his jeans.

His hands clamped around my fingers and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. I could tell that he was struggling to keep himself under control.

"You're sure?" he managed after a few seconds.

"I'm sure," I said, nodding.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	22. Bedroom

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #3/bedroom

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch22**

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Edward's eyes bore into mine with such intensity that I thought for a second he might put me over his shoulder and carry me away but instead, he broke into a huge smile. Taking my hand, he turned and led me to the bedroom.

I took my bra off as he moved around the bed to switch on the lamp. He licked his lips when he turned back to see me naked from the waist up. In a few quick steps he was in front of me, lowering himself to his knees. His fingers slipped into my belt loops and he pulled my body closer, brushing his lips against my stomach. I ran my fingers through his hair and sighed.

He looked up at me as he unbuttoned my pants and opened my zipper. His eyes stayed locked on with mine as he pushed my jeans and panties down over my waist. I finished taking them off and kicked them aside. His hands moved over my skin, soft caresses that seemed to burn everywhere they touched. He pressed light kisses on each of my hip bones and his breath was warm against my skin, teasing me where I ached to be touched.

But I didn't want his mouth on me. We'd done that, and it was wonderful; he was pretty talented with his mouth. But this time I wanted him—all of him.

Reaching down, I grabbed his hands and pulled him up so he was standing in front of me. He didn't stop me when I reached for his pants. He let me unbutton and unzip them, but he pushed them off and kicked out of them himself.

We stood still, taking each other in for just a heartbeat. His arms came up, and he pulled me close, crushing me to his chest as his lips devoured mine.

My hands wound in his hair, and I kissed him back with just as much hunger. I stepped back and pulled him over to the bed. He watched me climb up before he followed, situating himself beside me to lean on his elbow. His other hand moved over my body; tracing my collarbone, rolling my nipples between his fingers, cupping my center so I raised my hips into his hand.

"God, you're gorgeous," he whispered, his fingers stroking my wet folds. "I love how your body responds to me."

He lowered his mouth to my nipple, and I gasped, arching into his mouth and proving his point.

His erection pressed into my hip, and I reached down, circling it with my fingers, giving him a couple of slow strokes. He groaned as his hips moved even harder against me and he slipped two fingers inside me.

In and out. Up and down. Our hands worked at the same pace until I came, gasping and writhing, releasing him to grasp the sheets.

I hadn't caught my breath yet when I felt his body shift over mine, fitting himself between my legs. He moved against me, sliding himself through my wetness and over my clit. I brought my knees up, opening myself to him and pressing up to feel even more of him. His lips moved over my jaw line until he kissed just below my ear.

"Are you ready?" he whispered, his voice rough with desire.

"Yes." I nodded, taking his face in my hands to kiss him.

Slowly, he pushed all of the way into me, filling me completely. He held still for a second, and I could feel his heart pounding against mine. I stretched up, kissing along his jaw before I traced the shell of his ear with my tongue.

"Please," I asked, unable to say anything more.

He moaned something unintelligible and began to move. If I thought having him fill me felt good I was unprepared for the way I felt when he thrust his hips, sliding in and out of my body.

"Oh, God. Right there." I didn't need to say it, because he hit the right spot—everytime.

"Yeah? You like that?" He moved faster and harder and I could feel my muscles tightening around him. "You feel so good."

We moved together, our hips rolling and pushing, lips and tongues tangling. He seemed to know what I needed, changing his angle and moving my legs just so, to push me towards another orgasm.

"God. You... I can't... Are you close?" His words were punctuated by particularly hard thrusts.

"Yeah," I nodded, wrapping my legs more tightly around him.

After a couple more deep thrusts I was falling over the edge, crying out his name. It didn't take long until he tensed, making a sound between a growl and a roar as he came. He rolled to the side and we lay tangled together, panting.

"Wow," I chuckled when I caught my breath.

"I'll second that," he laughed, running his hand up and down my side.

We were quiet after that, but it was comfortable. I was almost asleep when I felt Edward pulling the sheet over us. He took me back into his arms, settling to spoon behind me.

"So," he whispered. "You've fallen for me?"

I snorted and squeezed his arm. "You heard what I said."

"I did," he laughed, "and I'm glad, because I've fallen for you, too."

I smiled and snuggled against him.

"I can't fucking believe Mike," he muttered.

"Really?" I shook my head. "Do you know him? He's the guy who called four pregnancies an epidemic during my interview."

Edward's chest rumbled as he laughed behind me. "Yeah, but he should have talked to me, or you, in private."

"He should have, but this is Mike we're talking about. And he meant well. You realize that, right?"

He sighed. "I do, but sometimes it's hard to be friends with such a dumbass."

I moved my arm and took Edward's hand, twining our fingers together. "Don't be too hard on him."

He nuzzled my neck with his nose and took a deep breath. "You smell so good."

"I smell like sex and sweat." I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see them.

"And strawberry shampoo." He took another sniff. "I love this smell."

"Yeah?" I yawned. "It's a custom scent, only for you."

He groaned and laughed. "I like the sound of that. We'll have to have a lot of sex so I can smell it all the time."

I giggled and let my eyes close. I wasn't going to argue with his logic.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000


	23. Island

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #15/Island

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch23**

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

My assignment in the middle school turned out to be awesome. I taught seventh and eighth grade reading, including two hours of advanced placement students. While I'd enjoyed my time in the high school, these kids were such a joy to work with. The difference seemed to be that they were still kids. The high schoolers, even in a small town like Forks, were so focused on being seen as adults that they shied away from fun in school. Sure there were cliques and bullies, but for the most part they were good kids, and they enjoyed learning.

I'd met a number of the middle school teachers throughout the year, so I wasn't entirely starting from scratch. Angela taught two classes in the middle school, so I was able to still see her daily. That made the transition a little more smooth as well. Only a few older teachers seemed to have a difficult time in regards to my relationship with Edward, but even they appreciated that I wasn't working in his building.

Things between Edward and I were still going well. More than well. We spent our weekends together and as time passed, even our week nights were spent together. I graded papers or wrote lesson plans while he worked on budgets and grant proposals. It was comfortable, but not too much so. Spending time with him was like I was living the life I'd dreamed of when I was little.

I'd been hesitant all year, but during spring break I finally made the trip to Seattle for sightseeing. Edward knew my reservations, but he and Jasper decided that Alice and I had lived in Washington far too long not to have visited the major landmarks the state had to offer. Peter and Char decided they wanted to join us as well when they heard we were going to a Mariners game.

I'd gotten a little panicky when Edward first brought it up, but the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. It became a sort of field trip for all of our friends. They argued over which places we _had_ to see and which ones we could skip; Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, the Space Needle, Bainbridge Island, Experience Music Project, the Pacific Science Center—they debated them all. I hoped we would have as much fun in the city as they did coming up with our itinerary.

We drove into the city on our own, planning to meet our friends for dinner later. Edward surprised me by booking a room at a hotel on the waterfront. He wouldn't tell me anything else about where we were staying. When we parked and began to get our bags out of the trunk I realized just how serious he was. The Edgewater Hotel was literally on the water—on a pier over Elliott Bay.

I read over a brochure in the lobby while he checked us in. Just like the Space Needle, it was built in 1962 for the World's Fair. In 1964, during the height of Beatlemania, the Edgewater was the only hotel in Seattle that would accept the Beatles' reservation. They had to put up fences around the hotel because of the hordes of fans. The musicians even had to be smuggled back to the hotel in an ambulance after their concert, but they enjoyed their stay—proved by a rather famous photo of the band fishing from their hotel window.

"This is a amazing!" I gushed when handed me a key-card.

"Yeah? I'm glad you like it. I can't wait til you see the view."

He put an arm around me, leading me to the elevator and down the hall to our room.

"Oh, wow!" I dropped my purse and moved to the window without really thinking about it.

Edward chuckled and I heard him moving around behind me, locking the door and setting down our bags. He made his way to stand behind me, putting his arms around my waist and sighed. I was practically mesmerized by the view of the water stretching out before me.

"Gorgeous," he whispered.

"Yeah, I think I can make out the mountains across the sound."

He chuckled, "I was talking about you."

I lightly elbowed him in the stomach, laughing. "Whatever."

"I mean it." He tightened his arms around me and kissed my neck.

We stood together, looking out the windows for a few minutes. I relaxed against his chest, loving the feel of his body along the length of mine. I felt warm and safe. Cherished even.

One of my favorite things about Edward was how he always seemed to be touching me. I didn't want to make comparisons between Edward and Garrett, but it was almost impossible not to. Garrett and I had great chemistry. We'd been best friends and great lovers, but we were independent. Edward and I had chemistry too, probably more than I'd had with Garrett if I really thought about it. And we had become best friends. But we had something different too. Edward and I had a magnetism that kept us physically touching more often than not. There was a pull that I felt towards him when we were in the same room together.

If we stood next to each other, Edward and I inevitably ended up touching somehow... either shoulder to shoulder, a finger in a belt-loop, a hand on the back. If someone had told me they had a boyfriend that was constantly touching them I'd have thought it was annoying, but in reality it wasn't. It was comforting. At times I felt like it was as necessary as breathing.

I took a deep breath and turned around to face Edward, my back against the glass.

His hand came up and cupped my cheek as he smiled down at me. He cocked his head, his fingers traced my eyebrows. 

"What?"

"Thank you, for today. For everything. For being patient with me. For helping me find myself again."

"We've been over this before." He ran his fingers through my hair and spoke softly. "You were never really lost and you don't owe me thanks."

"Fine," I sighed, putting my arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.

"Fine, as in you believe me, or just shut up and kiss me?

"Shut up and kiss me," I laughed.

He grinned and shook his head as he lowered his face to mine to do just that.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Links, if you like those:

The Edgewater Hotel http:/www(dot)edgewaterhotel(dot)com

The Beatles, fishing out of their window at The Edgewater http:/www(dot)beatlesinterviews(dot)org/fabfishing(dot)jpg


	24. Prom

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #22/Prom

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch24**

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

"Ow. It's too tight."

"Beauty is pain."

"Not for me. Ow," I whined as Alice pulled pulled tightly on my hair to create some half-up-do she swore was going to look beautiful.

"Shush." She continued whatever it was she was doing and sighed. "Remember senior prom? I loved that dress."

"Dress?" I laughed. "You wore a scrap of hot pink fabric."

She snorted - really snorted - and slapped my shoulder. "That fabric was covered in sequins. And it was long enough to cover my ass."

"Barely."

"You looked good that night too, but I like this dress better."

"God, I can't believe I'm going to prom again."

"Yeah, but this time you'll have the hottest date there, not some tool who still wore headgear."

"No one wears headgear anymore. My students probably don't know what it is."

"Haven't they seen _Sixteen Candles_?"

We both sighed the name of the cute boy from the movie, "Jake Ryan."

"Mmm. Right?" she giggled. "Edward _might_ be hotter than Jake Ryan. You're going to have so much fun."

"We're chaperoning a high school dance. How fun is that?"

"So what if you're chaperones. You're thinking about it all wrong. He's taking you to dinner first, and then you're going to a prom... with your hunky boyfriend. If you can't figure out how to make that fun-well, I vote you off the island."

I threw my head back laughing, which pulled my hair and made me wince. "Ouch. Fuck. Are you almost done?"

"Don't rush perfection, but yes. Seriously, though, you're going to have a great time. I can feel it."

She was right. It didn't matter that we were chaperoning, I was going to a formal dance with Edward. He was going to be in a tux. I'd spent hours daydreaming about how good he would look.

I couldn't even remember the last time I'd gotten this dressed up, a wedding before I left for Italy maybe. I'd worn a simple summer dress to my own wedding; it was nothing compared to the gorgeous gown Rosalie had helped me find. It was dark blue overlaid with black beading and had a deep v-neck with a belted empire waist. It accented my waistline and made my boobs look great. I couldn't wait for Edward to see me in it.

"I'm sorry, I was just being cranky." I laughed but resisted shaking my head so she didn't pull my hair again. "I feel old. How did we get to be old enough to be anyone's chaperone?"

She shrugged. "When MTV stopped showing music videos."

"Oh my God! Why _do_ they still call it Music Television?"

Thirty minutes later we'd had a lengthy conversation about our favorite videos and _Real World/Road Rules _contestants while she finished my hair and applied my makeup. She helped me into my dress and shoes, smiling her approval at the final product.

When I finally looked in the mirror I was blown away by the transformation.

"Oh my God. That's not me, is it?"

"Who else would it be, sweetie?

I looked like a Barbie version of myself. My hair was obviously styled, but still looked soft and touchable. My makeup was heavier than usual, but really brought out my eyes. I looked a little older too, less like a college student than I sometimes did.

"I don't know. I mean, of course it's me, but... I don't know how you did it. I look-"

"Beautiful."

"Yeah. Thank you."

"No thanks needed. Anytime you're going to prom, I'm your girl," she laughed.

"Shut up!"

"Do you think Edward can be prom king even if he's principal?"

"No!" I shook my head, laughing. "He recused himself."

"Oh, God. He'd have to. Have you seen the way some of those girls look at him? Like he's chocolate cake and they're starving. It's gross."

"You look at Jasper that way."

"Yeah, and we're both consenting adults. You look at Edward that way too, and it's cute, but those kids? Ewww. They shouldn't be thinking dirty thoughts about him."

"Oh, your grossing me out. Now I have to worry about all sorts of jailbait drooling over my date tonight."

"How have you not noticed them?" She raised an eyebrow at me as she tucked my lipstick and phone into a tiny purse.

"Alice, I didn't know you were even dating Jasper until you told me you were engaged."

"This is true."

Handing me the purse, she stepped back to give me a another look. She reached forward and tugged the shoulder of my dress into place and gave me a satisfied nod.

"Alright, I'm going to head out. Jasper and I are getting take-out and he's going to help me with some inventory at the shop." She leaned in and gave me half a hug, avoiding touching anything other than my shoulders. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Like that limits me!" I called as she walked out the door, flipping me off over her shoulder.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

For dinner, we went to a new French bistro near the casino in Sequim. Our food was delicious, and so was my company. I couldn't get over how good Edward looked in a tux. He was like, 007 hot.

Prom was eventful, but fun. Mike harassed couples with a ruler, holding it between them to demonstrate how far apart they needed to keep their bodies. Edward caught some boys drinking in the bathroom and I held a poor girl whose date left the dance with someone else. Despite all of that, Edward and I were still able to slow dance and spend some time together while chaperoning.

We squeezed in one final dance as the night came to a close. Adam Levine crooned through the speakers as the DJ played Maroon 5's _She Will be Loved_. Edward held my hand over his heart and I rested my head on his chest as we swayed to the music. He kissed the top of my head and tightened the arm around my back when I realized he was whisper-singing to the music.

_I don't mind spending every day_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

_Look for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved_

I closed my eyes and let Edward lead us around the floor. The song ended and Edward brought his hand up to cup my cheek. I looked up and he was gazing down adoringly.

"I love you."

His voice was barely a whisper, and my heart skipped a beat. Tears filled my eyes and I was overwhelmed with emotion.

"I love you too, so much."

I put my arms around his neck and pulled his face down to mine. I didn't care that we were in the middle of the dancefloor with our students watching us. When he put his mouth over mine, kissing me like I was the air he needed to breathe, I knew he didn't either.

"Go, Mr. Cullen!" some student called, breaking us out of our private bubble.

We both laughed and Edward gave me one more sweet kiss before pulling back to rest his head on my shoulder.

"Say it again," he whispered in my ear.

So I did—several times.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

Links - again, if you like em:

Bella's dress:

http:/www(dot)jovani(dot)com/bigimage/4840(dot)jpg

Maroon 5's _She Will Be Loved_ lyrics

_www(dot)elyrics(dot)net/read/m/maroon-5-lyrics/she-will-be-loved-lyrics(dot)html_


	25. Italian Restaurant

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: #16/Italian Restaurant

Pen Name: Missus T

Pairing/Main Character(s): Edward/Bella

Rating: M

**(This will be a multichapter fic.)**

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

**Fire and Rain Ch25**

***OMG I UPLOADED THE WRONG CHAPTER! SORRY***

**A/N:** So... Here we are. Thank you all so much for reading as I took on this challenge. It was both easier and more difficult than I imagined - I know that doesn't make sense, but it's the truth. LOL

HUGE thanks to **SydneyGen** and **Seastarr08** for pre-reading, beta-ing and just being awesome friends in general.

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

"Oh my God. What are you doing?"

"I'm waking you up."

"You certainly are," he groaned. "Bella, get up here."

Edward pulled at my hair, and I gave him one more long lick for good measure before sitting up to straddle his waist. I couldn't sit still though and so rocked against his length while I kissed his chest and jaw.

"Shit." His eyes were shut tight, and his back was arched, pushing him up against my center. "Let me wake up, baby."

I blew some hair off my forehead and laughed. "I was waking you up. You made me stop."

"No," he paused, biting his lip, as he moved a hand to my hip. He positioned himself at my entrance with his other hand, before pushing me back so he entered me slowly. "I just wanted to be inside you."

I moaned and felt myself melt at his words. He slid all of the way in, holding me still for a second before he started to move. Pushing off his chest, I sat up so it would be easier to move with him, sliding up and dropping down so I rubbed myself on him every time.

"Lean back, baby." He gripped my hips tighter, pulling me down harder and faster.

I did as he asked, reaching behind myself to put my hands on his thighs. He thrust his hips and began to hit the perfect spot inside me.

"Right there, right there, right there," I chanted, though I didn't really have control over what I was saying at that point.

He kept hitting me right where I needed it, and brought one hand between us to rub on my clit. That's all it took, and my orgasm ripped through me, curling my toes and bowing my back as my muscles went tight.

Edward continued to work me over him, roughly pushing and pulling. It wasn't long before he held me tight against his hips, growling his own release.

I stretched out on top of him, listening to the pounding of his heart, and his hot breaths in my ear. He brought a hand up to my back, gently stroking my hair a few times before letting it rest on the curve of my hip. I kissed his chest, and he squeezed me a little tighter. I slid off to the side, stretching out beside him. We stayed quiet, watching each other with soft smiles.

After a few minutes his fingers brushed over my gold chain and the diamond pendant I'd had made from the rings Garrett gave me.

"Are you going to be okay today?"

I sighed and flopped onto my back, putting my arms behind my head. "Not everything reminds me of him, you know?"

He rolled onto his side and propped himself up with an elbow to look down. "I know, but I can only imagine that today is going to be difficult for you. Watching your best friend get married..."

"I'll be fine," I huffed. "This won't be anything like my first wedding. Really. Today will be much more like our wedding is going to be, because it's going to have Alice's brand of crazy all over it."

"I can't believe you told her she had carte blanche."

I groaned and tucked my head into his shoulder. "She hasn't gotten over the fact she wasn't involved in my first wedding."

"So she's going to plan a pink wedding circus for us?"

I scooted back so I could see him again. "Something like that."

She only had eight months to plan it; I was hoping that would hold her back a little bit.

He rolled his eyes. "Great."

"I thought you wanted a real wedding?"

"All I need is you, me, and a preacher."

God, I loved him. Who said stuff like that? Edward, that's who, and I was lucky to have him. I knew it, and I thanked the stars every day.

"You're so sweet." I cupped his cheek and laughed. "Emmett's ordained, right?"

"Ha! Did he tell you that? He got ordained on-line in Dudeism, like in the _Big Lebowski_. I'm not sure that counts."

"The Dude abides."

He took my hand in his, running his thumb over my engagement ring. He'd proposed on Labor Day over coffee and cannoli at our favorite Italian restaurant in Port Angeles.

"_Bella, being with you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. You taught me how to forgive myself, and how to live again. You're my whole world, my everything. Please, say you'll marry me, that you'll be mine forever?"_

"_Of course! Of course I'll marry you!" _

There was no question whether I would say yes. I'd been denied my forever with Garrett and was given a second chance with Edward. I was not going to let it slip away. I couldn't. Saying no to him had never been a possibility.

His voice brought me back into the moment, "The Dude is not marrying us."

"Alright, alright. No Dudeist wedding," I laughed. "Alice would never let that fly anyway."

"No, she wouldn't. She'd let us go to Vegas before she let Emmett stand at the altar in Birkenstocks."

"Oh, God." I laughed. "The thought of that. You in a tux and him up there looking all... Dude-ish."

Edward chuckled, rolling us over so he was on top of me again. He pushed some hair off my shoulder, his eyes sparkling down at me.

"I love you, baby. I can't wait 'til we're married."

"Yeah?" I grinned. "You want to make an honest woman of me?"

"Mm hm." He nodded. He kissed me and ran his nose up my neck making me shiver. "I want to have babies with you and grow old together."

"Babies," I sighed. I wanted them with him too, badly, but I teased him anyway. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

He bit my shoulder in retaliation, and laughed. "Then you shouldn't have gone off your birth control to get it out of your system."

"Guess I didn't think that statement through."

He grinned at me. "No, you didn't."

I sat up a little, checking the alarm clock over his shoulder. "Ugh. We have to get up. I have to get in the shower before Rosalie shows up here and drags me out the door."

"You smell fine."

I rolled my eyes and climbed out of bed. He loved the way I smelled after sex. It was totally cavemanish, but he did.

He stretched, purposely teasing me with his nakedness. I shook my head and smiled. He was such a goof. And he was mine.

"I love you." The words fell out of my mouth, sometimes I felt like they just bubbled up and I had to tell him.

"I love you, too. Now get in the shower before I make you very, very late."

Checking the clock again, I bit my lip. I felt my weight shifting back and forth as I thought about it for just a split second before I launched myself back onto the bed and kissed him hard.

"I can work with being late."

000ooo000ooo Fire and Rain ooo000ooo000

**A/N: **

And we're done! *wipes brow*

I hope you're happy with the way it all came together. It would have taken way too many chapters to wrap it up in a perfect bow - but I think with the 25 I had to work with that it all worked out. They found their happy together and all is well. (And I promise they got pregnant and had babies right away.)

Thanks again - This was certainly an adventure!

OH - and you really can get ordained in Dudeism.

dudeism(dot)com/ordination/


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